B    3    3E7    MDE 


J.  F.  CRAWFORD, 

I'.OOKSKLI.ER, 

4th    ami    K,  Sac. 


MAKIAIST   ROOKE; 


THE  QUEST  FOE  FOKTUNE. 


01 


By   HENRY  SEDLEY. 


....    I  met  a  fool  i'  the  forest, 

A  motley  fool ;  a  miserable  world ! 

As  I  do  live  by  food  I  met  a  fool ; 

Who  laid  him  down  and  bask'd  him  in  the  sun, 

And  rail'd  on  Lady  Fortune  in  good  terms ; 

In  good  set  terms,  and  yet  a  motley  fool. 
"Good  morrow,  fool,"  quoth  1 1 "    "  No,  sir."  quoth  he, 
"  Call  me  not  fool  till  heaven  hath  sent  me  fortune." 

And  thereby  hangs  a  tale. 


NEW  YORK: 

S  H  IE  31  ID  O  3ST    &    O  O  IMI  DP  j^  ILsT 
1S65. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1865, 

BY  HENRY  D.  SEDLEY, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


A.  S.  Ar.  BEMAN  &  CO. 
PWMTEB1 

92   AND   1)4  GKAND   BTEKET, 
NEW   YORK. 


MARIAN    ROQKE 

OR, 

THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE. 


BOOK    THE   FIRST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FAR  beyond  the  tossing  Atlantic, — far  beyond  that  chain  of 
blue  mountains  which  early  settlers  once  thought  the  ultima 
thule  of  white  encroachment. — far  beyond  the  turbid  stream 
whose  vast  dimensions  make  sea-coasts  of  its  shores,  and  bear 
the  spoils  of  a  continent  to  the  Gulf. — aye,  and  even  far  beyond 
that  stern  range  of  once  impassable  Rocky  Mountains,  the  ever- 
restless  Anglo-Saxon  has  pushed  his  way,  until  there  is  scarcely 
a  streamlet  he  has  left  unexplored,  scarcely  a  square  mile  he  has 
left  untrodden.  To  speak  of  change  in  connection  with  America 
seems  idle  now,  for  the  words  have  become  all  but  synonymous. 
And  yet  these  mutations,  so  far  as  they  are  connected  with  the  occu 
pation  of  fresh  territory,  must,  through  physical  necessity,  come 
to  an  end;  the  swifter  the  racer  the  sooner  he  comes  to  his 
goal,  and  the  rapidity  of  a  nation's  growth  bespeaks  an  early 
maturity,  if  not  a  premature  decay.  There  are  those  who  may 
find  abundant  significance  in  the  fact  that  all  of  the  many  vast 
tracts  belonging  to  the  United  States  which  had  undergone  ter 
ritorial  organization,  became  permanently  settled  during  the 
present  decade.  There  were  no  more  lands, — none  at  least  in 
the  direction  of  the  setting  sun, — to  wrest  from  the  unwilling 
savage,  no  more  to  conquer  from  the  weaker  neighbor  ;  the  ex 
citing  progress  had  come  to  an  end  at  last,  for  the  extraordinary 
people,  who  for  an  eventful  century  had  been  struggling,  fight- 


4  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

ing,  and  floating  their  way  westward.  There  was  nothing 
further  to  be  accomplished  by  those  who  had  moved  their  na 
tional  boundary  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Pacific. 

Fifteen  years  ago  it  was  not  so.  There  were  then  far  reach 
ing  spaces,  where  the  elk  and  the  antelope  could  feed  in  peace, 
and  the  bison  still  roam  undisturbed.  Spaces  where  no  human 
beings,  save  4  bands  of  the  thin  and  scattered  tribes  of  Sioux, 
'  Fawners',  &ncl  Apaches  ever  found  their  way  to  break  with  rude 
'chase 'or  ruder  battle,  the  solitude  of  nature.  Spaces  where  we 
•  fcritay  ;supoqse  jthat  for  ages  and  ages  back  no  sounds  save  those 
of  riatiireV  oWri  everlasting  processes  had  interrupted  the  solemn 
stillness.  And  these  tracts  might  to-day  have  been  equally 
vacant  and  silent, — might  have  been  yet  unoccupied,  or,  as  some 
would  have  it,  yet  unpolluted  by  the  white  man,  but  for  one 
thing,  which  since  1492  has  been  working  such  wondrous  effects 
upon  mankind  and  their  habitation, — the  potent  agent  of 
discovery. 

The  same  irresistible  lure  which  wrought  the  fall  of  Monte- 
zuma  and  the  Incas, — the  sad  possession  which  plunged  Mexico 
and  Peru  into  a  sea  of  troubles,  whence  they  have  never  alto 
gether  emerged, — has  prematurely  developed  and  populated  these 
occidental  wilds  which,  by  a  natural  process,  and  making  all 
allowance  for  a  prodigious  immigration,  would  otherwise  have 
remained  virgin  for  another  half  century. 

When  the  news  reached  the  Atlantic  States,  in  1849,  of  Cap 
tain  Batter's  discovery,  with  the  subsequent  report  that  portions 
of  the  soil  of  California  were  literally  spangled  with  gold,  a  rush 
ensued  for  the  favored  region,  such  as  scarcely  ever  has  occurred 
in  history.  Some  crowded  on  board  steamships  bound  for  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien,  with  intention  to  cross  to  Panama,  and  again 
take  ship  to  San  Francisco.  Some,  with  more  patience  or  fewer 
dollars,  contented  themselves  with  sailing  ships  going  by  the 
circuitous  passage  of  the  Horn.  Some,  and  these  latter  includ 
ed  many  a  bold  frontiersman,  with  plenty  of  pluck,  but  often 
times  no  money  at  all,  unable  or  unwilling  to  buy  transport  by 
sea,  betook  themselves  to  the  more  hazardous  and  more  adven 
turous  resource  of  crossing  the  plains. 

It  is  true  that  nearly  fifty  years  before  such  an  exploit  had 
been  attempted  and  performed.  Americans,  familiar  with  the 
annals  of  Congress,  and  few  of  them  are  not,  knew  that  in 
1803,  "Captain  Meriwether  Lewis,  of  the  1st  Regiment  of  In 
fantry,  was  appointed,  with  a  party  of  men,  to  explore  the 
river  Missouri,  from  its  mouth  to  its  source,  and  crossing  the 
highlands  by  the  shortest  portage,  to  seek  the  best  water  com- 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  5 

nranication  thence  to  the  Pacific  ocean ;  and  Lieutenant  Clark 
was  appointed  second  in  command."  But  this  expedition,  ag 
well  as  others  which  succeeded  it,  besides  being  heavily  armed, 
well  disciplined,  accompanied  by  skilful  guides  and  trappers,  and 
under  government  authority,  accomplished,  as  was  intended, 
most  of  its  journey  by  water,  a  method  of  transit  presenting 
many  advantages  over  those  Avhose  sole  aim  was  that  of  getting 
as  quickly  as  possible  from  one  point  to  another.  The  pilgrims 
of  '49  sought  only  to  get  at  the  Californian  gold,  and  cared  little 
about  the  navigable  facilities  of  the  Missouri  and  Columbia  rivers, 
or  the  flora  and  fauna  to  be  found  upon  their  banks.  Thus  they 
attempted  short  cuts,  seeking  to  make .  their  course  coincide  as 
nearly  as  possible  with  a  parallel  of  latitude  from  their  point  of 
departure-  Sometimes  they  succeeded,  to  the  benefit  of  those 
who  come  after ;  but  often  in  such  efforts,  they  paid  the  last 
penalty  for  then*  enterprise,  and  perished  miserably  in  sterile 
waterless  expanse  or  freezing  mountain  pass  ;  so  that  not  long 
ago  there  were  tracks,  marked  by  the  whitening  bones  of  their 
first  discoverers,  which  did  sad  service  for  later  adventurers, 
who  closely  followed  them  as  guides  ;  a  ghastly  remembrancer 
of  the  episode  in  the  Babes  in  the  Wood,  save  that  now  there 
were  no  unthinking  or  pitying  robins  to  cover  or  remove  the 
relics  of  those  who  had  gone  before. 

Some  of  these  unfortunates  had  perished  of  hunger  and  thirst ; 
for  although  in  those  days  there  was  no  lack  of  game  in  certain 
places,  yet  in  the  heart  of  the  continent  there  are  long  stretches 
of  country  divided  by  no  water-courses,  and  where,  if  agriculture 
ever  flourishes  hereafter,  it  must  be  with  the  aid  of  extensive  ir 
rigation.  In  the  dry  season  these  stretches  are  utterly  destitute 
of  water,  and  therefore  as  empty  of  fur  or  feather  as  Sahara 
itself.  Into  these  inhospitable  tracts,  sometimes  by  miscalcula 
tion  of  their  position,  sometimes  to  avoid  hostile  Indians,  way 
farers  would  stray  and  wander  about  until  exhaustion  forced 
them  to  lie  down  and  die.  There  were  also  many  cases  where  trains 
would  be  attacked  and  captmed  by  the  savages,  whose  numbers, 
now  yearly  decreasing,  were  then  formidable,  and  who,  possessing 
great  numbers  of  fleet  horses,  were  often  able  to  gather  in  such 
force  as  to  overcome  resistance  however  brave,  and  almost 
invariably  butchered  whoever  might  have  survived  the  fight. 

All  these  dangers  had  been  evaded  by  a  little  caravan,  which, 
on  a  bright  afternoon  in  June,  1850,  was  slowly  descending  the 
last  slopes  which  lead  down  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the 
further  side  of  the  South-west  Pass.  There  were  four  large 
wagons,  or  ox-carts  of  the  sort  used  in  the  western  country, 


6          .  MARIAN    ROOKE  J    OR, 

with  huge  wheels,  and  tall  canvas  tops.  Each  of  these  vehi 
cles  was  drawn  by  oxen,  which,  albeit  they  showed  signs  of  a 
heavy  journey,  were  yet  in  tolerable  condition.  The  third  in 
the  line  was  somewhat  the  larger  of  the  four,  and,  in  truth,  its 
tent-like  cover  sheltered  what  constituted  an  apartment  of  very 
fair  proportions,  and  which,  as  we  shall  see,  was  capable  of  af 
fording  no  little  comfort  to  its  occupants.  At  the  head  of  the 
column  rode  a  large  sinewy  man  of  fifty,  who  bestrode  a  power 
ful  mule,  and  who  was  constantly  scrutinizing — notwithstanding 
the  rays  of  the  sun  which  were  slanting  directly  athwart  his 
face— the  sweep  of  plains  and  valleys  which  lay  below.  In  his 
immediate  rear,  and  in  front  of  the  wagons,  walked  pensively 
about  a  dozen  head  of  cattle,  on  either  side  of  whom  there  were 
a  couple  of  men  mounted  on  horses  of  the  plains ;  while  be 
hind  the  wagons  again  rode  half-a-dozen  more,  with  rifle  on 
shoulder,  forming  the  end  of  the  train. 

For  many  weeks  had  the  travellers  been  pressing  their  way 
towards  the  west.  They  had  traversed  monotonous  plains, 
seemingly  interminable,  whose  arid  surfaces  bore  scarcely  any 
vegetation  but  bushes  of  wild  sage  and  the  more  obnoxious 
prickly  pear.  They  had  crossed  innumerable  water-courses, 
fringed  with  the  cottonwood  and  the  willow,  sometimes  by  ford 
ing,  sometimes  by  rafting,  sometimes  by  horse-ferry  constructed 
of  their  own  resources.  They  had  climbed  many  a  steep  hill, 
each  like  the  other,  with  unvarying  crests  of  cedar,  pine,  and 
wild  mahogany.  They  had  camped  in  many  a  little  timber 
"island,"  whose  welcome  shelter  and  security  in  the  otherwise 
unbroken  plain  invited  their  weary  feet  to  tarry  for  the  night. 
But,  although  they  had  experienced  vicissitudes,  had  lost  some 
of  then*  cattle,  had  encountered  many  Indians,  and  had  more 
than  once  been  short  of  water,  the  little  band  had  been  spared 
graver  disaster,  and  had  lost  none  of  their  number  by  violence 
or  disease.  Their  immunity  was,  no  doubt,  partly  due  to  good 
fortune  ;  but  their  numbers  and  somewhat  formidable  appear- 
,  ance  had  likewise  been  serviceable,  for  they  were  a  powerful- 
*  looking  body  of  men,  and  mustered  over  a  dozen  rifles.  More 
over,  the  consequences  of  some  of  their  recent  acts  of  murder 
and  plunder  had  begotten  among  the  tribes  of  the  plains  a 
wholesome  dread  of  their  "  Great  Father"  at  Washington,  and 
uncomfortable  doubts  as  to  the  length  of  his  arm.  The  passes 
of  the  great  mountain  range  had  become,  under  these  circum 
stances,  the  most  critical  portion  of  the  overland  route ;  the 
distance  from  the  settlements,  and  the  all  but  impossibility  of 
tracing  out  offenders,  combining  to  multiply  their  dangers. 


THE    QUEST    FOR   FORTUNE.  7 

No  wonder,  then,  that  those  who  crossed  the  plains  should  be 
delightecl  when  they  had  left  the  great  central  chain  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  behind  them. 

The  man  at  the  head  of  the  column  turned  in  his  saddle  as 
if  to  escape  for  a  moment  the  glare  of  the  falling  sun,  and 
gazed  at  the  scene  behind  him.  He  gazed  upon  a  countless 
succession  of  hills,  mere  swells  at  first  of  red  and  brown,  with 
clumps  here  and  there  of  hardy  redwood  and  scrawny  mahog 
any,  the  foliage  touched  ever  and  anon  with  a  glint  of  gold. 
Further  off,  as  the  panorama  receded,  the  swells  sharpened  into 
points  and  crags  crowned  with  bristling  pines,  and  broken 
with  masses  of  granite  and  flint,  all  bathed  in  hues  of  various 
purple.  Furthest  yet,  but  with  numberless  gradations  between, 
rose  the  solemn,  dark,  blue  peaks  of  the  central  range,  crested 
with  snow,  which,  suffused  with  the  oblique  rays  of  the  sun,  shot 
forth  all  manner  of  radiant  colors.  The  spectator  saw  no 
more  of  earth  beyond,  nothing  but  the  pure,  delicate  blue 
of  the  approaching  evening  ;  a  background,  indeed,  of  the  same 
color  as  the  mountains,  and  yet  so  wonderfully  in  contrast. 

The  man  gazed  at  the  vista  for  a  while,  not  altogether  uncon 
scious  of  its  beauty,  and  then  suddenly  gave  vent  to  a  cheery 
shout : 

"  Hurrah,  boys  !  We've  passed  the  wust  of  it !  We're  gittin' 
out  o'  the  foot-hills,  and  to-night  we'll  sleep  west  o'  the 
mountains!" 

A  responsive  cheer  broke  from  the  men  nearest  the  speaker, 
and  those  behind,  readily  guessing  its  purport,  without  quite 
catching  the  words  which  inspired  it,  took  up  the  cry  and  cheered 
until  the  welkin  rang  again. 

As  the  echoes  subsided,  a  voice  far  away  to  the  west  took  up 
the  cry  once  more,  and  sent  it  back  in  tones  which,  although 
distant,  were  distinct  and  clear  ;  and  directly  after  this  again  was 
heard  the  ringing  bay  of  a  dog. 

i;  That's  Luke  1"  said  the  pioneer  of  the  column.  And  "  That's 
Luke!"  said  the  cattle-drivers  behind,  and  the  horsemen  in  the 
rear  of  the  train.  And  "That's  Luke,"  was  repeated  by  two  or 
three  feminine  voices,  whilst  their  owners'  heads  were  thrust 
forth  from  the  wagon  the  third  in  the  line. 

"  I  hope  he's  got  some  venison,"  said  one  on  the  right.  "  I'm 
blamed  tired  of  hung  beef  and  penimican  {pr  more'n  a  week,  and 
only  half  a  pint  o'  whiskey  a  day." 

"  Pshaw,  Jabe  Fitch,"  retorted  his  companion,  a  long  Ken- 
tuckian,  with  an  eye  and  face  like  a  hawk,  *  *  ye  think  o'  noth 
ing  but  the  inside  o'  yer  stomach ;  be  thankful  ye've  got  yer 


8  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

ecalp  on  the  outside  o'  yer  head.  That's  the  fii'st  lookout,  goin* 
through  the  mountains." 

"  A  place  for  everything,  and  everything  in  its  place,  Dick 
Railes,"  quoth  the  other,  "  as  my  old  grandmother  used  to  tell. 
When  we  was  goin'  through  a  skeary  place,  why,  I  say  look  out 
for  safety  and  nothin'  else ;  when  we've  got  out  o'  the  woods,  I 
allow  we've  got  a  right  to  holler !" 

"Ay,  but  maybe  we  ain't  out  of 'em  yet." 

"No?  Why,  Uncle  Seth  thinks  there's  ne'er  an  Injun  'twixt 
this  and  Stockton ;  that  is,  once  out  o'  the  foot  hills." 

"  Seth  Armstrong's  cute,  he  is ;  but  he  don't  allers  know  every 
thing.  It  ain't  the  call  of  an  Illinise  or  Ohio  farmer  to  be  up  to 
all  the  ins  and  outs  o'  the  redskins,  like  as  if  'he  was  raised  on 
the  frontier." 

"  You  don't  s'pose — " 

"  There  may  not  be  an  Injun  within  a  hundred  mile  on  us ; 
and  then,  again,  look  thar. " 

The  speaker  pointed  as  he  spoke,  and  his  interlocutor  peered 
long  and  earnestly  in  the  direction  indicated  ere  he  could  make 
out  what  the  practised  eyes  of  the  Kentuckian  had  detected  some 
time  before.  Far  away  on  the  right,  perhaps  a  couple  of  miles 
distant,  so  tiny  as  to  be  nearly  invisible,  curled  upwards  a  spiral 
of  smoke,  blue  and  delicate  against  the  green  and  brown  of  the 
earth  and  the  foliage.  Jabez  Fitch  looked  for  some  time,  and 
then  drew  a  long  breath. 

"Thunder!  hadn't  we  better  let  on  to  Uncle  Sethf 

"No.  Leastways  not  yet.  Maybe  Luke's  lit  a  fire ;  though 
it  ain't  like  him  afore  night.  Maybe  that  'ere  simpleton's  set  the 
brush  ablaze  for  fun.  Maybe  one  o'  Luke's  wads  has  done  it. 
Anyhow,  we'll  be  up  with  him  soon,  and  we  can  find  out." 

The  sun  was  now  sinking  fast — to  use  the  incorrect-expression. 
As  the  train  was  continually  descending,  it  was  shortening  its 
daylight  by  a  double  process,  and  in  a  few  minutes  after  the  little 
colloquy  described,  it  had  become  almost  dusky.  Still,  it  was 
light  enough  to  see  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  further  on,  a 
stream  which  ran  directly  across  their  path.  It  was  an  old  ac 
quaintance,  the  party  having  often  passed  it  miles  behind  as  a 
mountain  brook,  and  having  been  beholden  to  its  clear  current  for 
many  a  refreshing  draught.  It  was  growing  more  ambitious  as 
it  neared  the  plains,  and  although  it  had  learned  to  be  less  noisy, 
it  was  much  deeper,  and  now  boasted  a  width  of  some  twenty 
yards.  On  its  furthest  bank  from  our  travellers  stood  a  little 
grove  of  cottonwood  trees,  gracefully  distributed  in  a  curve  of 
the  stream ;  and  beneath  could  now  be  discerned  a  group  con- 


THE    QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  9 

sisting  of  five   figures,   two   of  which,   however,   alone   were 
human. 

The  most  conspicuous  form  was  that  of  a  young  man  full  six 
feet  high,  who  stood  in  advance  of  the  others,"  leaning  upon  his 
rifle.  He  was  attired,  as  were  indeed  most  of  the  company,  in 
a  leathern  or  buckskin  hunting  shirt,  and  he  wore  Indian  leg 
gings  and  moccasins  as  the  best  protection  against  the  prickly 
pear  of  the  plains. 

Luke  Armstrong  might  have  seen  some  five-and-twenty  sum 
mers,  and  as  he  stood  bareheaded,"  with  his  brown  curling  locks 
fluttering  in  the  breeze,  and  a  smile  of  welcome  wreathing  his 
handsome  bronzed  features,  he  looked  the  very  ideal  of  manly 
strength  and  good  humor. 

A  few  paces  behind  was  another  youth,  apparently  fast  asleep. 
His  limbs  were  stretched  carelessly  upon  the  ground,  while  his 
head  was  pillowed  on  the  back  of  a  huge  black  dog,  who  lay  pa 
tiently  enough,  although  his  sagacious  eyes  and  a  scarcely  per 
ceptible  movement  of  his  bushy  tail  showed  plainly  his  interest 
in  the  approaching  party. 

The  head  of  the  sleeper  was  covered  with  a  thick  shock  of 
coarse  red  hair,  and  the  cap  which  had  fallen  on  his  side  was 
decorated  with  three  or  four  feathers  of  great  length  and  gaudy 
colors.  His  dress  was  similar  to  that  of  Luke,  except  that  it  was 
fantastically  ornamented  with  beads,  feathers,  and  bits  of  fur,  in 
a  manner  usually  considered  more  consonant  with  a  barbarian 
than  a  civilized  taste. 

At  a  short  distance  a  couple  of  Mexican  mustangs,  secured  by 
lariats,  were  nibbling  the  bright  green  herbage  which  carpeted 
the  borders  of  the  stream  ;  and  their  saddles  and  bridles  cast 
upon  the  ground  completed  the  inanimate  portion  of  the  picture. 

""Well,  Luke,  lad,  what  fortune f  cried  Seth  Armstrong,  as 
his  mule  paused  in  splashing  passage  of  the  rivulet  to  bury  its 
nose  greedily  in  its  cooling  current. 

"  Why,  as  to  grass  and  water,  father,  you  see ;  and  as  to  game, 
look  there!" 

He  pointed  as  he  spoke  to  a  fine  elk,  which  swung  from  the 
lower  branch  of  a  neighboring  tree,  and  at  whose  foot  there  lay 
a  considerable  pile  of  feathered  spoil. 

'•  We  might  have  had  two,"  continued  Luke,  regretfully.  "  He 
would  be  hunting  squirrels  and  Calumet  eagles  for  the  'sake  of 
then-  tails,  instead  of  for  good  hullsome  meat  to  keep  the  pot 
bilin'." 

"Darn  the  simpleton!"  said  Dick  Railes,  riding  up.  "He's 
allers  spilin'  sport.  If  I  was  you,  Luke,  I'd  leave  him  with  the 


10  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

train  another  time.  There's  plenty'd  be  glad  to  chum  with  ye, 
on  yer  huntin'  days,  without  yer  taking  up  with  Silly  Ike." 

"  No,  no,"  replied  Luke,  good-naturedly,  "  don't  be  too  hard 
on  poor  Ichabod.  He's  ready  enough,  generally,  to  do  his  share 
o'  the  work ;  and  if  he  has  a  taste  for  gimcracks,  he's  no  worse 
than  lots  o'  gals  Dick  Railes  would  be  the  last  to  speak  a  harsh 
word  of." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Jabez  Fitch,  with  some  malice.  "  Kitty 
Armstrong's  the  only  gal  I  ever  see  that  didn't  care  for 
ribbons  and  finery,  and  the  only  one  Dick  Railes  can't  git  along 
with." 

"  Who  told  you  how  he  gits  along  ?"  growled  Dick  in  high 
dudgeon,  but  evidently  discomfited  by  the  stroke. 

"  One  thing  I  can  tell  ye,  boys,"  said  Seth  Armstrong,  "  and 
none  on  ye  knows  it  better  than  Richard  ;  and  that  is,  ef  we're 
all  here  now  safe  and  sound,  we  have  to  thank  Silly  Ike  for  it. 
Them  'ere  pesky  Pawneee  and  Sioux  would  have  belted  our 
scalps,  sure,  more'n  once,  but  for  him.  Darn  me  if  I  hadn't 
rather  cross  the  plains  with  a  half-wit  than  a  hull  regiment  of 
Uncle  Sam's  blue  bottles." 

"  I  do  think  you're  light,  father,"  said  Luke.  "  It's  queer  that 
them  red  devils  who  won't  respect  a  helpless  woman,  or  even  a 
child  in  arms  for  that  matter,  daren't  so  much  as  lift  a  finger 
agin  a  witling  that  hain't  got  so  much  sense  as  either." 

The  party  had  in  truth  found  reason  to  put  the  matter  to  a 
severe  test.  On  one  occasion  in  particular,  during  the  first  ten 
days  of  their  journey  from  Liberty,  rendered  somewhat  too  bold 
by  impunity,  nearly  the  whole  number  had  incautiously  sepa 
rated  themselves  from  their  train,  leaving  only  Ichabod  and  two 
others  with  the  females  in  charge  of  the  cattle  and  wagons. 
Thus  defenceless,  they  were  surprised  by  a  band  of  some  fifty 
Sioux,  all  well  mounted  and  in  their  war-paint,  who  surrounded 
the  train  with  frightful  cries.  Fortunately,  several  of  their  num 
ber  understood  enough  English  to  converse  intelligibly,  and 
they  speedily  discovered  the  misfortune  of  poor  Ichabod,  who 
showed  not  the  slightest  trace  of  fear.  By  what  persuasion  or 
argument  the  dusky  warriors  arrived  at  their  determination  his 
companions  never  knew ;  but  they  were  well  satisfied  when,  af 
ter  an  animated  discussion  in  their  own  tongue,  the  Indians 
galloped  off  as  swiftly  as  they  1ml  first  approached,  not,  how 
ever,  without  a  considerable  exhibition  of  admiration  and  rever 
ence  towards  Ichabod,  received  by  him  with  great  gravity  and 
equanimity. 

"  And  I'll  tell  ye  another  thing  'bout  Silly  Ike,"   cried  the 


THE    QUEST   FOR     FORTUNE.  11 

latter  personage  himself,  suddenly  raising  his  head,  and  show 
ing  that,  with  characteristic  cunning,  he  had  been  listening  to 
the  conversation.  His  black  pillow  accepted  the  movement  as 
giving  leave  of  absence,  for,  with  a  short,  glad  bark,  he  jumped 
up  and  ran  to  greet  his  various  friends. 

"I'll  tell  ye  another  thing  'bout  Silly  Ike,"  he  repeated,  sit 
ting  up  cross-legged,  and  waprging  his  red  locks  spitefully  at 
Dick  Railes.  "He  knows  darned  well  who  treats  him  right 
and  who  don't.  He  keeps  a  memory  longer'n  from  here  to  Fort 
Leaven  worth,  Silly  Ike  does.  He  kin  talk  Yankee,  and  he  kin 
talk  Chiny,  and  he  kin  talk  Turkey,  and  he  kin  talk  Injun,  he 
kin.  He  saved  your  scalps  twice,  and  he  kin  do  it  agin.  You're, 
all  darned  smart,  and  there's  only  one  on  ye  kin  understand  me, 
and  that's  Lion  ;  he  knows  what  I  say,  every  word  on't ;  don't 
ye,  Lion  ?" 

The  dog  came  up  and  rubbed  himself  affectionately  against 
his  master's  shoulder. 

"  That  ain't  what  I  was  goin'  to  say,  though,"  proceeded 
the  latter,  "  and  what  it  was  is  this.  You're  all  on  ye  bound 
for  Californy,  to  scratch  and  dig,  and  worry  and  burrow  your 
souls  out,  and  all  for  what  ?  All  for  one  thing.  Most  on  ye'd 
sell  your  souls  for  it,  I'll  swear.  Dick  Railes  would  anyhow. 
Well,  now,  what's  the  pint  ?  Just  this  :  Ike  kin  give  ye  more 
gold  than  'ud  make  that  'ere  mountain  over  agin.  Ike's  got 
more'n  'ud  make  all  the  eagles  and  double  eagles  Uncle  Sam  ever 
kined  at  the  mint  in  Philadelphy.  Virgin  gold,  though,  all 
rich  and  yaller — " 

"  Come,  Ike,"  said  Seth  Armstrong,  interrupting  him  kindly, 
and  knowing  by  experience  that  on  this  subject  the  poor  sim 
pleton's  haranguing  was  likely  to  prove  exhaustless.  "  Come, 
Ike,  boy,  it's  most  sundown,  and  we've  got  to  make  camp,  you 
know,  and  unyoke  the  critters  and  fix  up  a  corral,  and  git  sup 
per,  and  lots  o'  things.  Ye  can  tell  us  about  the  gold  when 
we're  smokin'  our  pipes,  bime  bye,  can't  ye  ?" 

"  I  will  for  you,  Uncle  Seth,"  answered  Ichabod,  quietly. 
"  But  remember,  I  don't  mean  to  give  it  to  any  on  'em.  They 
ain't  fit  for  it.  'Twould  kind  o'  upset  'em  ;  they're  too  weak- 
minded  ;  they'd  be  for  spendin'  of  it  all  in  a  minute,  they 
would." 

"  Come  on,  Ike,  we've  had  a  good  rest,"  cried  Luke;  "let's 
help  to  rouse  out  the  teams." 

Darkness  was  now  coming  on  apace,  and  the  travellers  were 
actively  engaged  in  making  their  preparations  for  the  night. 
Indeed,  as  they  had  had  many  days  of  heavy  work,  Seth  Arm- 


12  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

strong  proposed  to  pause  for  eight-and-forty  hqurs  or  therea 
bouts,  to  give  man  and  beast  an  opportunity  to  recruit.  For 
such  a  purpose  few  spots  could  have  been  discovered  more  fa 
vorable  than  that  on  which  they  now  found  themselves.  There 
was  abundant  grazing  for  the  cattle,  plenty  of  water,  and,  al 
though  the  site  of  their  camp  was  heavily  timbered,  there  were 
few  trees  and  little  brush  for  a  long  distance  on  either  side  to 
furnish  cover  for  any  possible  lurking  enemies.  This  last  con 
sideration,  no  less  important  than  the  others,  determined  the 
question  of  a  more  than  usually  protracted  sojourn. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OF  the  four  wagons  described  as  forming  the  train,  one  was  ex 
clusively  devoted  to  carrying  the  provisions  of  the  party,  and 
was  placed  when  travelling  first  in  the  line.  The  second  was 
filled  with  farming  tools,  extra  gear  for  the  teams,  and  such 
supply  of  grain  or  other  forage  as  could,  from  time  to  time,  be 
obtained  to  make  up  for  incidental  scarcity  on  the  march.  For 
there  were  occasional  wastes  to  traverse  whereon  the  burning 
sun  had  shrivelled  every  blade  of  grass  and  absorbed  every  drop 
of  moisture ;  places,  to  cross  which  in  safety,  the  wayfarer  must 
provide  food  and  water,  not  only  for  himself  but  for  his  cattle. 
The  last  wagon  was  used  for  the  conveyance  of  such  personal 
luggage  as  each  of  the  party  was  permitted  to  take,  and  con 
tained  besides  various  articles  of  household  furniture  from  the 
farmhouse  of  the  Armstrongs  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  It  had 
been  a  sore  question  with  poor  Mrs.  Armstrong,  which  of  these 
household  gods  to  cherish  and  which  to  turn  her  back  upon  ; 
which  of  the  old  familiar  things  to  keep  familiar  still,  and  which 
to  abandon  forever.  Give  her  her  way,  indeed,  and  she  would 
have  brought  the  old  farmhouse  itself,  carefully  packed  in  sec 
tions  ;  ay,  and  the  old  red  barn,  and  the  hen-house,  and  the 
pig-pen,  and  all  the  living  things  which  inhabited  them.  But 
here  Seth  Armstrong  was  inexorable.  He  was  sensible  of  yield 
ing  to  a  certain  weakness  in  undertaking  this  hazardous  journey 
at  all ;  and  he  was,  at  all  events,  determined  to  assert  his  dig 
nity  and  recompense  his  self-respect  in  the  carrying  out  of 
details. 

The  expedition  had  its  origin  simply  in  this  wise :  Luke  Arm- 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  13 

strong,  like  many  other  young  men,  and  quite  in  a  natural  way, 
had  taken  the  "  California  fever."  All  reasoning  and  entreaty 
to  the  contrary,  go  to  the  land  of  gold  he  would.  Xow,  when 
his  mother  found  his  resolution  inflexible,  she  at  once  resolved 
to  carry  out  the  only  device  whereby  a  separation  from  her  first 
born  might  be  avoided.  She  determined  on  the  transportation 
of  the  whole  family  to  the  Pacific  shore  ;  and,  as  in  all  her  en 
terprises,  when  she  set  to  work  with  a  will,  she  succeeded. 
Xot  without  difficulty,  however,  for  Seth  Armstrong  was  more 
strongly  attached  to  his  home  than  many  of  his  countrymen  are 
prone  to  be.  He  had  left  a  farm  in  Xew  England  five-and- 
twenty  years  before ;  a  farm  where  his  people  had  dwelt  and 
died  for  many  generations.  But  the  soil  was  flinty  and  ungen 
erous  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  and  it  was  bounteous 
and  virgin  on  those  of  the  Ohio.  It  had  been  a  hard  struggle 
for  bare  subsistence  in  the  former  case,  and  life  became  easy 
and  comfortable  in  the  latter.  So  Seth  Armstrong  had  struck 
down  new  roots,  and  had  thriven  and  flourished  apace  until  he 
was  turned  of  fifty  years  of  age.  His  family  never  had  much 
money,  perhaps,  but  they  had  always  abundance  to  eat,  to  drink, 
and  to  wear.  Seth  was  contented  with  his  lot,  and  so  was  his 
wife,  and  so  was  their  blue-eyed  daughter  Kitty,  and  so,  until 
Captain  Suiter's  lucky  discovery,  had  been  his  son  Luke.  Be 
that  as  it  might,  they  were  now  all  of  them  infected  with  the 
gold  fever. 

Seth,  with  many  sighs,  had,  as  he  called  it,  ''pulled  up 
stakes,"  shipped  his  goods  down  the  river  to  St.  Louis,  made 
up  his  party  with  a  great  deal  of  shrewdness  and  sagacity,  and 
in  the  middle  of  the  continent,  with  his  Lares  and  Penates — 
such  as  were  left  of  them — here  he  was.  But  he  had  obstinate 
ly  refused  to  "tote"  any  articles  excepting  such  as  he  could  be 
convinced  were  absolutely  necessary,  and  hence  had  arisen  many 
a  momentous  conflict  of  opinion  between  himself  and  "mother." 
In  these  encounters,  as  has  been  suggested,  Seth  came  off  vic 
torious  in  a  general  way  ;  and  if  exceptions  existed  in  trifling 
particulars,  they  were  to  be  found  in  the  third  wagon  of  the 
train,  which  we  now  propose  to  describe. 

Xot  to  be  paradoxical,  it  was  a  nondescript  sort  of  a  vehicle. 
It  had  been  used  on  the  journey  as  a  residence,  serving  as  kitch 
en  for  the  entire  party,  sitting-room  for  the  females,  and,  divid 
ed  by  a  thick  canvas  partition,  as  a  chamber  for  the  Armstrong 
family  at  night ;  the  others  either  finding  room  in  the  remain 
ing  wagons,  or  sleeping,  by  preference,  in  the  open  air.  But 
these  were  not  the  sole  uses  of  the  vehicle  in  question  ;  for  ii 


14  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

had  not  only  been  applied  to  these  necessary  purposes,  but  had 
seen  service  on  the  march  as  a  pontoon,  and  on  one  occasion, 
even  more  simply,  as  a  boat.  The  truth  was  that  Seth  Arm 
strong,  foreseeing  a  variety  of  exigencies  wherein  such  a  con 
trivance  would  be  useful,  had,  with  Luke's  aid,  built  this  re 
markable  wagon  himself.  It  was  entirely  of  home  manufacture, 
with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the  springs,  which  were  those  of 
an  ordinary  heavy  van,  and  from  which  the  body  could  be  read 
ily  detached.  In  the  rear  was  a  flight  of  steps  similar  to,  al 
though  somewhat  higher  than  those  of  a  common  omnibus, 
and  a  window  of  half-a-dozen  squares  admitted  light  over  the 
door.  Towards  the  foremost  part  of  the  roof,  which  was  of 
stout  canvas,  and  upwards  of  seven  feet  high  from  the  floor,  a 
small  stove-pipe  emerged,  and  conducted  smoke  from  the  fire 
below.  The  whole  structure  might  have  been  sixteen  feet  in 
length,  by  seven  in  width. 

While  the  men  were  attending  to  the  cattle  and  preparing 
their  camp-fire  to  cook  their  game,  for  preparations  of  meat 
were  usually  made  in  the  open  air,  a  scene  of  no  less  activity 
was  progressing  in  Castle  Armstrong ;  for  such  was  the  name 
conferred  by  the  travellers  on  the  edifice  just  described.  The 
brilliant  light  of  the  moon  and  stars  sufficed  for  all  practical 
purposes  out  of  doors,  even  without  the  help  of  the  fire.  Not 
so,  however,  within,  where  the  artificial  aid  of  a  pair  of  candles 
was  necessary  to  carry  out  the  operations  in  progress.  A  fire 
had  been  lighted  in  the  stove  directly  after  the  halt,  and  was 
now  blazing  briskly  enough  to  set  a  large  kettle  of  water  singing 
aloud  which  was  suspended  over  it.  A  comely,  cherry-lipped 
girl,  with  sparkling  blue  eyes,  and  a  striking  resemblance  to 
Luke  Armstrong,  was  stirring  a  mixture  intended  to  make 
"  hoe-cake "  011  a  dresser,  which  worked  with  a  hinge,  in  the 
fore  part  of  the  vehicle,  while  a  middle-aged,  but  not  unprepos 
sessing  woman,  whom  it  needs  no  second  glance  to  identify  as 
the  mother  of  the  younger  one,  was  getting  "spiders"  and  grid 
irons,  and  other  indescribable  utensils,  ready  for  the  evening 
meal.  At  the  other  end  of  the  apartment,  and  her  features  some 
what  obscured,  as  the  candles  stood  on  a  table  close  by  Kitty 
Armstrong,  was  the  tall  figure  of  another  girl,  stooping  to  get 
something  out  from  one  of  the  drawers  which  were  fitted  under 
each  of  the  berths.  Such  was  the  picture  presented  to  Luke 
Armstrong  as,  after  unyoking  and  settling  the  oxen,  he  clam 
bered  up  to  the  seat,  and  thrust  his  good-humored  face  into  the 
wagon. 

"Good   evening,  mother  1"  cried  he.      "We've  got  such  a 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  15 

beautiful  doe!  And  the  fires  are  lit,  and  Bridget  and  Jabe  are 
cutting  the  steaks,  and  the  Doctor  and  Dick  Railes  are  squab 
bling  about  the  distance  to  Salt  Lake,  and  father's  found  an  old 
corral  for  the  critters !  I  hope  you're  most  ready  with  the  hoe- 
cake,  for  we've  all  got  such  famous  appetites !" 

"  All  right,  Sonny,"  responded  the  matron.  ' '  We  ain't  usually 
much  behind  the  men  folks,  'specially  at  cookin'  time.  Father 
says  we're  goin'  to  rest  here  a  spell." 

"  Yes,  we're  through  the  Great  Pass,  and  a  right  smart  bit  on 
our  way.  There  ain't  much  more  chance  of  stumblin'  agen  the 
redskins,  and  the  cattle  need  a  day  or  two  to  pick  up." 

"  I'm  so  glad,"  exulted  Kitty  Armstrong.  "  I'm  sick  and  tired 
of  this  joggle  joggle,  which  makes  you  feel  jest  like  crossing 
Lake  Michigan.  Now,  you  Luke,"  she  continued,  coming  up 
and  kissing  his  brown  cheek,  "  where' s  my  present'?" 

"  Choose." 

"  No,  I  won't  choose  hands,  for  you  always  change  'em.  Any 
how,  Mary  Anne  gets  the  prettiest.  Let's  see  I" 

"No,  no,  honor  bright.  Look,  I  won't  stir  after  you  pick, 
'cept  to  give  it  to  you." 

«  Well,  then,  left." 

"  Here  you  are  then  Kitty,  left." 

Luke  handed  his  sister  a  band  or  circlet  of  curious  shape,  but 
evidently  intended  for  the  head.  It  consisted  of  some  sort  of 
soft  skin,  adorned  with  porcupine  quills,  and  enriched  at  the 
centre  by  a  noble  plume  from  the  eagle,  known  among  the  In- 
flians  as  the  Calumet. 

"  Why,  Luke !"  cried  the  girl  in  surprise,  not  unmingled  with 
alarm.  ""  Where  did  you  find  it  ?" 

"  In  the  mountains  this  morning.  I  thought  Ike  had  tomfool 
ery  enough  stuck  about  him,  and  'twould  better  suit  you.  I 
think  it's  a  chief's." 

"Then  there  are  Indians  near  us,  after  all?" 

"How  d'ye  make  that  out,  silly?  The  loser  may  be  dead  or 
hundreds  of  miles  away." 

'  •  I  hope  he  is  the  last  any  how.  But  what  have  you  got  for 
Mary  Anne?" 

"Nuthin'  much,"  said  Luke,  a  flush  warming  his  frank  brow, 
"  only  a  bunch  of  little  mountain  posies.  Won't  you  take  'em, 
Mary  Anne  ?" 

The  tall  girl  came  forward  at  the  invitation,  and  extended  her 
hand.  She  was  dark — not  of  Luke's  sun-bronzed  hue,  but  with 
a  complexion  of  clear  olive,  through  which  the  blood  could  be 
traced  as  if  the  skin  were  that  of  the  purest  blonde.  Like  Kitty, 


16  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

she  wore  a  plain  stuff  gown,  happily  unextended  by  crinoline ; 
and  her  head  carried  only  its  own  ample  ornament.  But,  un 
like  Kitty,  her  manner  was  distinguished,  and  her  carriage, 
without  suggesting  the  slightest  affectation,  was  almost  fit  for  a 
queen.  Her  hand,  too,  which  was  stretched  to  take  the  prof 
fered  nosegay,  was  tapering  and  delicate.  Whoever  or  what 
ever  Mary  Anne  might  be,  she  was  one  of  those  whom  no 
humbleness  of  dress  or  situation  can  make  common ;  no  disen 
chanting  adjuncts  in  the  way  of  domestic  surroundings  can 
altogether  deprive  of  dignity. 

"  Thank  you  very  much,  Luke,"  she  said  in  a  low,  musical 
voice.  "They  can  scarcely  be  sweeter  than  the  last  ones  were." 

"I  have  to  take  what  I  can  find,  Mary  Anne,"  said  Luke, 
unconsciously  tuning  his  voice  into  the  same  key.  "  Flowers  are 
scarce  on  the  dry  prairie,  but  these  came  from  the  mountains." 

"  And  yet  their  scent  is  like  magnolia  blossoms,"  she  went  on. 
i 'They  remind  me  of  the  South." 

"Put  them  in  your  hair,  Mary  Anne,"  said  Luke  ;  "we're  to 
have  a  spree  to-night — a  kind  of  a  blow-out  to  celebrate  our  safe 
crossin'  of  the  mountains ;  so  you  girls  can  make  yourselves  as 
pretty  as  you  please." 

"Well,  then,  be  off,  Luke,"  exclaimed  his  mother,  "and  don't 
be  a  henderin'  of  'em,  for  they've  lots  of  chores  to  do,  and 
father  '11  be  hollerin'  for  supper." 

Luke  reluctantly  descended  from  his  perch,  and  joined  the 
active  party  outside.  By  this  time  a  large  fire  w^as  blazing  mer 
rily  at  a  convenient  distance  from  the  banks  of  the  stream,  the 
cattle  were  comfortably  settled  for  the  night,  buffalo  robes 
spread  upon  the  ground,  and  preparations  for  a  feast  in  active 
progress.  Bridget,  a  stout  Irish  lass,  long  the  faithful  follower 
of  the  Armstrong  family,  was  busily  getting  steaks  from  the  elk, 
and  preparing  a  generous  number  of  the  birds  for  a  "stew"  in 
a  huge  iron  pot.  Some  of  the  men  were  still  engaged  at  various 
necessary  labors,  while  others,  having  finished  their  share  of  the 
work,  were  stretched  on  skins  before  the  fire.  Not  that  its  heat 
was  much  needed,  but  the  habit  of  forming  a  circle  around  the 
blazing  logs  was  strong,  and  all  readily  fell  into  it.  This  circle, 
indeed,  constituted  a  sort  of  evening  parliament  whereat  the 
discoveries  and  adventures  of  the  day,  and  the  projects  and 
chances  of  the  morrow,  were  regularly  debated  and  determined. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  Seth  Armstrong  had  made  up  his 
party  with  not  a  little  sagacity.  The  primary  objects  were  of 
course  security  and  efficiency ;  that  is,  numbers  sufficient  to  de 
ter  attack  or  resist  it,  and  yet  not  too  many  to  endanger  quarrels 


THE   QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  17 

or  divided  counsels ;  and  discreet  selection,  with  a  view  to  avoid 
the  incumbrance  of  indolent,  sickly,  or  otherwise  objectionable 
companions.     Seth  was  no  great  expert  himself  in  frontier  work, 
albeit  a  tolerable  woodsman,  a  stanch  husbandman,  and  a  steady 
shot.     He  had,  however,  a  great  deal  of  self-reliance,  and  liked 
to  cherish  it.     When  he  determined  to  cross  the  continent,  he 
had  first  provided  himself  with  a  large  map,  which  was  as  ac 
curate  as  a  sketch  of  a  partly  unexplored  country  on  a  scale  of 
fifty  miles  to  the  inch  is  likely  to  be.     Such  as  it  was,  he  had 
given  it  careful  and  protracted  study,  measured  the  distances  his 
teams  were  likely  to  accomplish  in  various  hypothetical  periods, 
considered  the  relative  positions  of  well-known  constellations 
with  reference  to  then*  line  of  march  at  such  epochs,  and,  in 
general,  so  fortified  himself  as  to  feel  sure  that  he  would  not  con 
vey  his  charge  to  the  Russian  possessions  or  the  city  of  Mexico. 
Having  made  this  progress,  Seth  made  it  his  business  to  seek 
out  some  one  who  had  been  on  the  plains  before,  and,  whatever 
his  other  knowledge  or  deficiencies,  should  have  experience  at  all 
events  in  this.     He  had  no  great  difficulty  in  finding  such  an 
assistant  in  the  long  Kentuckian  called  Dick  Railes,  a  personage 
whom  it  would  not"  have  been  difficult  to  persuade  to  undertake 
a  journey  to  any  part  of  the  habitable,  or  for  that  matter,  unin 
habitable  globe,  but  who,  if  he  had  a  choice  at  that  time  for  one 
thing  over  another,  preferred  to  try  his  luck  in  the  gold  diggings 
of  California.     Dick  had  been  as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains  as 
long  ago  as  '-40,  he  said  ;  and  onct  he'd  been  across  to  the  high 
est  peak  away  to  the  northward,  when  the  Pathfinder  set  up  the 
proud  banner  of  our  universal  nation  on  that  uncomfortable  and 
hitherto  inaccessible  acclivity.     Dick  had,  however,  sundry  little 
weaknesses  and  eccentricities  of  temper ;  and  his  knowledge  was, 
moreover,  of  a  merely  popular  character,  highly  useful  no  doubt, 
but  not  precisely  of  that  exhaustive  description  which  one  likes 
to  depend  upon   exclusively  when  life,  fortune,   and  worldly 
goods  are  at  issue.     This  is  perhaps  not  exactly  the  form  wherein 
Seth  would  have  set  forth  what  he  felt  to  be  a  deficiency  in  the 
material  of  his  party ;  still  it  expresses  substantially  his  view  of 
the  case.     He,  therefore,  considered  himself  very  fortunate  when 
he  stumbled  upon  a  man  of  science,  who  was  not  only  capable  of 
taking  observations  with  a  theodolite  or  a  sextant,  but  who  also 
was  seeking  a  party  with  whom  to  cross  the  plains.     This  was 
one  Doctor  Landale,  a  hard  headed  Scotchman  of  forty,  who  had 
been  bred  a  surgeon,  had  followed  his  profession  zealously  for  a 
dozen  years,  and  had  taken  a  fancy  to  turn  civil  engineer  at  six- 
and-thirty.     Whether  this  caprice  was  consequent  upon  a  deter- 


1  8  MARIAN   KOOKE  ;    OK, 

mination  to  visit  new  countries,  where  he  might  wisely  have  two 
st-iuga  to  his  bow,  did  not  appear ;  be  that  as  it  may,  honest 
Soth  satisfied  himself  after  his  own  fashion  of  the  doctor's  capacicy, 
most  especially  with  reference  to  exact  science  ;  and  the  sight  of 
a  transit  instrument,  a  theodolite,  a  dumpy  level  (Troughton  and 
Simms'),  together  with  that  of  a  formidable  get  of  draughting  in 
struments,  quite  took  his  confidence  by  storm.  Furthermore, 
the  doctor  agreed  to  pay  a  certain  sum  towards  the  expenses  of 
transport  and  provision,  which  sum  being  rather  in  excess  of 
what  he  got  from  others  of  the  party  who  had  no  special  at 
tainments  to  enhance  the  mercantile  value  of  their  society,  sat 
isfied  the  thrifty  yeoman  remarkably  well. 

Besides  those  already  mentioned,  there  were  two  young 
men,  farmers'  sons,  and  friends  of  Luke  from  Ohio  ;  a  quaint 
and  good-humoured  looking  person,  who  described  himself  as 
having  lately  "  kept  store"  at  Biddeford,  Maine ;  an  enormously 
powerful  backwoodsman,  who  "belonged"  in  one  of  the  west 
ern  counties  of  Illinois ;  a  couple  of  sturdy  Irishmen,  who 
"worked  their  passage "  by  special  agreement  with  Seth  Arm 
strong  ;  and,  lastly,  a  slight  young  man  from  Massachusetts, 
called  Hugh  Gifford. 

When  Luke  descended  from  the  wagon  he  found  the  party 
in  high  spirits,  and  interested  in  a  not  unusual  species  of  dis 
cussion  between  Dr.  Landale  and  Dick  Railes. 

"'Spose  now,  doctor,  you  was  to  lose  your  th'oderlite  and 
sextant  and  the  fixins,  and  was  to  git  stuck  in  the  middle  of  the 
pararie  without  'em,  then  whar  would  you  be  ?  I  could  find 
my  way  by  the  sun,  and  the  trees,  and  the  different  kinds  o' 
sile,  and  the  lay  of  the  land  ;  but  whar  would  you  be  ?" 

"  I'd  just  find  my  road  without  either  of  the  tools  you  men 
tion,  and  without  either  of  yours,  for  that  matter,  although 
the  sun  is  a  very  good  guide.  Why,  man,  a  couple  of  poles 
and  a  lighted  brand  would  give  us  the  meridian  any  night  we 
could  see  the  north  star  ;  and  it's  easy  enough  to  keep  a  dead 
reckoning  with  such  steady  travellers  as  Seth  Armstrong's 
oxen." 

"  Wall,  if  you  could  git  along  so  well  without  'em,  whar's 
the  use  o'  the  gimcracks,  so  much  frettin'  and  worryin'  to  carry 
'em  safe,  and  you  bilin'  over  half  the  time  about  their  gittin' 
out  of  'justment,  and  local  attraction  disturbin'  the  needle,  and 
what  not  ?  I  take  it  a  straight  eye  and  a  clear  head  is  as  good 
measures  for  lines  and  distances  as  all  the  science  things  you 
kin  scare  up.  I  don't  see  no  use  in  'em  'cept  to  scare  off  the  In- 


THE    QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  19 

juns,  p'raps,  who  allus  thinks  a  round  thing  with  a  hole  int's 
bound  to  go  oft*." 

"  If  you  were  squatting  on  a  quarter  section,  Master 
Railes,  with  pushing  neighbors  on  either  side,  or-  coming  on  a 
savage  coast  in  winter,  when  a  mile  or  so  might  make  the  differ 
ence  between  death  and  safety,  you'd  want  something  more 
mathematical,  I'm  thinking,  than  clear  heads  and  straight  eyes 
to  demonstrate  your  position." 

"  As  to  the  quarter  sections,  they  run  'em  off  down  our  way 
without  no  spy-glasses  ;  jest  a  Jacob-staff  and  a  compass,  and 
what  they  call  a  Gunter's  chain  ;  eighty  on  'em  on  a  side,  and 
then  blaze  a  tree.  They  don't  use  no  spy-glasses  like  your'n, 
nor  no  triangulations." 

"None  that  you  see,  perhaps.  To  simplify  the  work,  as 
they  think,  they  may  divide  the  square  mile  as  you  say  with 
nothing  more  than  the  field-compass  and  chain  ;  but  the  lines 
of  the  townships,  at  least,  are  located  more  accurately,  or  the 
sum  of  errors  would  lead  to  hopeless  confusion.  The  system 
you  quote  is  a  bungling  one  at  best,  and  could  only  answer  in 
a  new  country,  where  land  is  abundant  and  claimants  few." 

"  And  as  to  savage  coasts,"  continued  the  Kentuckian,  pur 
suing  the  thread  of  his  former  reply,  "  I  don't  know  nuthin' 
about  'em,  and  I  don't  want  to  know  nuthin'.  Pararies  and 
Injuns  is  savage  enough  for  me.  I  don't  want  no  water  round 
that  ain't  fresh,  I  don't.  What  it's  made  for  I  can't  see,  'cept 
it  is  to  give  the  folks  in  the  Atlantic  States  an  excuse  to  tax 
the  hull  country  for  building  ships  and  forts  that  ain't  wanted." 

"  Why,  Dick,"  cried  Luke  Armstrong,  laughing,  "  you 
wouldn't  leave  the  country  without  a  navy,  would  you  ?  Or 
the  coasts  and  sea-ports  without  defences?" 

"What  good  does  the  navy  or  the  forts  do  us  out  here?" 
queried  Mr.  Railes,  obstinately.  "  We  don't  own  no  ships  to 
be  purtected  ;  we  ain't  afraid  of  nobody  else's  ships  bombardin' 
our  towns.  We  air  an  agricultooral  people,  we  air ;  and  we 
air  a  goin'  on  to  open  up  the  boundless  west,  conquerin'  and 
to  conquer  until  the  hull  continent  clear  to  the  Pacific  is  filled 
with  states  as  fine  and  as  flourishin'  as  old  Kentucky.  Take 
kear  o'  number  one,  that's  my  idee ;  we  don't  want  no  ships  to 
do  that." 

"  Hooray  1"  shouted  Ichabod,  midway  in  a  series  of  wild 
gambols  with  the  dog,  Lion.  "Hooray  for  Uncle  Sam! 
Hooray  for  the  universal  Yankee  nation  !  Hooray  for  the 
'Merikun  eagle  !  We'll  all  jest  sail  in  and  take  the  hull  con 
tinent,  and  drive  out  the  Britishers,  and  the  greasers,  and  an- 


20  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

nex  Canady,  and  gobble  up  Cuby,  and  clean  aout  the  hull  lot 
on  'em.  We'll  live  on  milk  and  honey,  and  elk  meat  and  hoe- 
cake,  and  never  do  any  work ;  and  every  man  shall  have  ten 
farms  afore  he's  had  time  to  cultivate  one  ;  and  we'll  all  go  to 
Congress  and  make  new  laws  every  day  ;  and  we'll  have  a  new 
President  once  a  week,  and  Ike  will  be  the  first  one,  and  Lion 
the  second  1  Hooray!" 

And  Ike  commenced  an  active  pantomime,  whereof  the 
principal  feature  consisted  in  enveloping  himself  in  a  buffalo 
robe  and  pretending  to  be  a  bear,  to  the  great  joy  but  affected 
fury  of  Lion. 

"Two  on  one*s  too  many,"  said  Luke,  with  his  good-natured 
laugh.  "  The  Doctor  can't  argue  with  Ike  and  you  both,  Dick. 
He'll  hevto  give  in." 

"Dick's  more'n  half  right,"  growled  Nahum  Pelter,  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois,  preceding  his  opinion  with  an  appall 
ing  extrusion  of  tobacco  juice.  "  We  don't  want  no  ships 
'cept  on  the  great  lakes.  We  must  have  'em  thar  to  keep  the 
Britishers  in  order." 

"The  only  good  I  could  ever  see  in  ships,"  proceeded  Dick 
Railes,  thus  heavily  reinforced,  "is  to  tote  cotton  and  terbacker; 
and  furrin  ships  might  as  well  do  that  as  any  others.  Labor's 
cheaper  with  them,  and,  naterally,  they  can  kerry  the  prodoose 
for  less  money." 

"And  sposin'  there  was  a  war  with  the  nation  ownin'  the 
ships?"  put  Jabez  Fitch,  with  the  air  of  a  man  having  a  thirst 
for  useful  information. 

"Then,"  answered  Dick,  confidently,  "then  we'd  jest  hive 
our  stuff  till  the  fightin'  was  over.  We  could  git  along  better 
without  their  ships  than  they  could  git  along  without  our  cotton 
and  terbacker." 

"  Arter  all,  Dick  Railes,"  said  Seth  Armstrong,  joining  in  the 
discussion,  "  arter  all,  you  can't  be  in  right  clown  airnest  in 
what  you  say.  If  we  hadn't  had  no  ships  and  no  commerce, 
we  mightn't  have  had  the  population  or  the  money  to  set  up  all 
these  here  great  Western  States  at  all.  Where  would  have 
been  the  wealth  of  New  England  ef  it  hadn't  been  for  her  trade 
with  the  East  and  West  Indies'?  And  where  would  have  been 
the  honor  of  the  nation  ef  we  hadn't  had  war  ships  ready  when 
we  fit  agin  impressment  and  the  right  of  search  in  '14?  What's 
the  difference  where  the  ships  is  built,  or  where  they  go,  so 
long  as  they're  owned  by  and  fightin'  for  the  hull  country?" 

"The  difference  is,"  said  Mr.  Railes,  with  a  dogmatic  evasion 
of  the  issue,  "the  difference  is  that  the  South  and  West  is  self- 


THE   QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  21 

of  the  issue,  "the  difference  is  that  the  South  and  West  is  self- 
supportin',  and  the  North  and  East  ain't." 

"Look  a  here,"  exclaimed  Nalmm  Pelter,  ejecting  his  cus 
tomary  avant  courier  •  "look  a  here  !  We  kin  live  on  this  ere 
pararie  without  any  help  from  the  Yankee  States  or  rotten  old 
Europe  either.  We  kin  find  elk,  and  antelope,  and  buffalo,  and 
bar  enough  to  eat,  and  their  skins  will  keep  us  warm.  We  kin 
git  corn  almost  for  nothin',  for  one  man's  sowing1!!  feed  ten. 
If  you  poke  round  here  long  enough,  I'll  find  ye  coal,  and  lead, 
and  sulphur,  and  nitre,  and  iron ;  let  alone  red  cinnabar,  cop 
per,  or,  for  the  matter  o'  that,  what  we're  all  huntin'  for,  gold. 
Now,  if  we've  got  all  we  want,  and  other  folks  come  along  and 
want  to  trade  with  us,  it  stands  to  reason  that  to  do't  is  for 
their  advantage,  and  not  for  our'n." 

"  That's  so,"  quoth  Dick  Railes,  approvingly. 

"  You  can't  find  no  gold,"  cried  Ichabod.  "  Nobody  knows 
where  the  gold  is  but  Ike.  He  knows  where  there's  mountains 
of  it — more'n  ever  was  found  in  Indy  or  Peroo  ;  enough  to 
make  ye  all  so  blamed  rich  ye'd  cook  yer  elk  in  gold  pots,  and 
wear  crowns  from  now  to  never.  Ike  knows  where  it  is,  only 
'twould  kind  a  spile  ye  and  make  ye  wild  to  let  ye  have  it,  so  he'll 
keep  it  for  himself." 

"What  you  say,  Pelter,"  said  Seth,  "sounds  reasonable 
enough,  but  I'm  afeard  it's  one-sided,  arter  all.  What  do  you 
think  about  it,  Mr.  GifFord  ?"  he  continued,  to  the  young  man 
from  Massachusetts,  who  had  hitherto  listened,  without  taking 
part  in  the  discussion. 

"  I T  answered  the  latter.  "  Why,  Mr.  Armstrong,  I  should 
say  that  the  West  can't  do  without  the  ships,  nor  the  East  with 
out  the  prairies." 

"  A  politic  conclusion,  Mr.  Gifford,"  said  Dr.  Landale,  "and 
one  which  does  credit  to  your  tact,  if  it  be  not  altogether  con 
vincing  to  either  disputant.'' 

"Why,  as  to  that,  who  agrees  or  disagrees  with  two  dispu 
tants  never  satisfies  either.  However,  I  expressed  my  belief. 
You  have  been  long  enough  with  us  now  to  know  that  there 
are  great  differences  of  opinion  among  the  Americans." 

"  To  be  sure,  to  be  sure,"  replied  the  Doctor.  Large  country, 
mixed  people — miscellaneous  educations — tot  homines,  tot  senten- 
tice." 

"What's  that?"  asked  Mr.  Pelter,  in  an  undertone,  of  Dick 
Railes. 

"  Something  about  the  Th'odolite,"  explained  the  latter. 

"Now,  then,  gentlemen,   supper  supper!"  cried  Seth  Arm- 


22  MARIAN  KOOKE;  OR, 

strong.  "Here's  mother  and  the  gals  bringin'  the  tea  and  the 
hoe-cakes  cooked,  and  Bridget's  got  steaks  enough  cut  for  a 
regiment." 

"Supper  with  all  my  heart,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  I'd  much 
rather  discuss  elk  steaks  than  abstract  questions,  however  inter 
esting  or  instructively  set  forth." 

"Amen,"  said  Luke.  "Besides,  this  is  a  night  of  jollity,  to 
celebrate  gettin'  safe  through  the  mountains.  Come,  Dick, 
extra  whiskey  to-night,  you  know." 

"That  suits  me,"  responded  Mr.  Railes,  complacently. 

"And  won't  hurt  none  on  us  for  once,"  remarked  Seth.  "  I 
ain't  one  o'  these  kind  o'  men  who'd  keep  the  boys  from  a 
cheerful  drop  now  and  agin." 

"  Whiskey  for  Ike, "  chimed  in  that  personage ;  ' '  whiskey  for 
Ike,  and  a  drop  for  Lion.  Whatever  Ike  gits — elk  or  teal,  hoe- 
cake  or  whiskey — Lion  has  some  too." 

"Now,  boys,  here's  the  tea  comin',"  continued  Seth.  "  Take 
tea  with  supper,  and  keep  your  whiskey  for  your  pipes  arter- 
wards.  Who  has  the  fust  watch  to-night,  Luke?" 

"Mr.  Gifford  and  Ike." 

"  That's  well.  They  ain't  so  like  to  need  sleep,  p'raps,  as 
the  rest.  Now,  then,  mother,  we're  all  sharp  set  enough  for 
two.  Set  the  steaks  a  brilin',  Bridget,  and  git  out  the  teacups." 

These  latter  consisted  of  tins,  which  served  for  all  drinkables 
alike,  and  were  soon  in  use,  together  with  plates  of  the  same 
durable  material.  The  supper  was  abundant  and  savory,  and 
high  good  humor  prevailed  among  the  party.  Lion  was  not 
forgotten  by  his  zealous  friend,  who,  after  giving  the  honest 
creature  his  fill,  produced  a  violin,  on  which  he  played  with 
considerable  skill  and  facility.  Then  there  were  songs  about 
Old  Virginny,  and  Carolina,  and  Tennessee,  and  the  Ohio 
River,  and  yaller  gals,  and  old  homes,  ad  libitum.  Afterwards 
there  were  some  rude  but  jovial  and  hearty  essays  at  dancing, 
and  when  the  dancers  were  too  weary  to  trip  it  longer  they  re 
clined  on  their  buffalo  robes,  and  took  to  story-telling.  So 
that  it  was  very  late  when  the  festivities  at  last  came  to  a  close, 
and  the  moon  went  to  rest,  and  left  the  stars  to  shine  down  in 
unobstructed  splendor  upon  the  little  camp,  which  now  became 
as  placid  and  still  as  it  had  lately  been  full  of  life  and  merriment. 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  23 


CHAPTER  III. 

A  LONG  journey  by  land  has  many  features  in  common  with  a 
long  passage  by  sea.  There  are  the  same  likes  and  dislikes,  the 
same  jealousies  and  repinings,  the  same  horror  of  particular  faces 
and  expressions  which  one  gets  to  loathe  in  the  most  uncharita 
ble  manner,  to  be  requited,  perchance,  by  being  loathed  in 
return.  There  are,  too,  the  same  speedy  detections  of  sympathy 
by  kindred  natures ;  the  same  binding  together  of  tastes,  and 
amusements,  and  caprices,  so  that  nothing  is  more  frequent  on 
sea  or  shore  than  to  find  a  set  of  people  split  into  little  cliques 
and  factions,  each  as  complete  in  itself  and  repellent  of  the 
others  as  if  the  different  members  were  of  opposite  and  hostile 
nationalities.  The  land  passage  has  the  advantage  of  the  water 
in  that  it  presents  more  variety  of  scenery,  and,  generally  speak 
ing,  entails  more  physical  exertion ;  circumstances  less  condu 
cive  to  ennui  than  the  dreary  monotone  and  listless  apathy  of  the 
ocean  are  .apt  to  be.  It  has  not,  however,  the  same  opportunities 
which  state-rooms  and  cabins  afford,  either  for  solitary  commun 
ing  or  relief  from  enforced  companionship. 

When  the  party  of  Seth  Armstrong  first  set  forth  from  St. 
Louis  there  were,  as  was  quite  natural,  a  great  many  proffers  of 
attention  and  minor  gallantry  to  the  young  girl  called  Mary 
Anne  from  the  men,  most  of  whom  were  young,  and,  of  the 
four  women  of  the  party,  only  herself  and  Kitty  Armstrong 
being  eligible.  Such  advances  the  girl  had  received  with  sim 
ple  courtesy,  speaking  kindly  to  all  without  hauteur  or  reserve, 
but  yet  managing,  with  a  tact  rather  remarkable  at  nineteen,  to 
prevent  either  from  considering  himself  peculiarly  favored  by 
encouragement.  Leading  questions,  such  as  most  Americans 
below  a  certain  grade  of  intelligence  and  education  are  by  no 
means  too  delicate  in  withholding,  she  contrived,  without  giving 
offence,  to  avoid.  Conversation  which  tended  to  elicit  any  ex 
position  of  her  past  life  she  would  ingeniously  divert,  or,  as  a 
last  resort,  would  find  refuge  in  silence.  Thus  it  happened 
that,  by  the  time  the  caravan  had  reached  the  mountains,  while 
the  whole  party  knew  all  about  the  Armstrongs;  were  well 
versed  in  the  life  and  adventures  of  Dick  Railes  and  Jabe  Fitch ; 
had  been  favored  with  an  autobiography  in  detail  of  Mr. 
Is  ahum  Pelter ;  were  conversant  with  the  business  speculations 
and  vicissitudes  of  the  gentleman  from  Biddeford ;  had  even 


24  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

become  familiar  with  the  mingled  web  of  physic  and  mensura 
tion,  wherein  the  reminiscences  of  the  cautious  Scotchman,  Dr. 
Landale,  were  interwoven,  they  yet  knew  nothing  at  all  about 
the  young  girl  called  Mary  Anne. 

What  was  most  singular  was  that  Seth  Armstrong  knew 
almost  as  little  about  her  as  any  one  else. 

"  Miss  Mary  Anne  is,  I  presume,  your  second  daughter  ?" 
queried  the  Doctor,  on  the  second  day  of  the  journey. 

"  Miss  Mary  Anne?  My  darter?  Wall,  no,  I  expect  she's 
— that  is,  I  dunno — wall,  I  calculate  she's  Mary  Anne." 

With  which  explanation  the  Doctor,  perforce,  remained  sat 
isfied  ;  for  an  introductory  "hem"  wherewith  he  prefaced  an 
other  threatened  interrogatory  so  alarmed  the  worthy  farmer 
that,  unused  to  diplomatic  evasions,  he  hastily  beat  a  retreat 
under  pretence  of  "seem'  to  the  tire  of  that 'ere  hinderrnost 
wagon." 

No  one  had  been  more  successful  than  the  Doctor  ;  so  that 
Mary  Anne  continued,  so  far  as  the  knowledge  of  the  company 
was  concerned,  to  be  Mary  Anne ;  "  only  this,  and  nothing 
more." 

The  truth  was  that  Mr.  Armstrong's  acquaintance  with  the 
young  woman  was  scarcely  a  day  older  than  that  of  any  mem 
ber  of  the  party ;  and  when  he  hesitated  or  prevaricated  re 
specting  her  surname,  it  was  for  a  reason  no  more  occult  than 
that  he  simply  did  not  know  it. 

On  the  day  before  the  one  fixed  for  setting  out,  she  came  to 
the  obscure  hotel  which  was  the  last  rendezvous  of  his  party, 
and  asked  to  see  him  alone. 

"  I  wish  to  go  across  the  plains,"  she  said,  "to  California. 
I  have  money — can  pay  for  the  trouble  and  expense  I  may 
cause.  You  are  going — you  have  a  wife  and  daughter  ;  let  me 
go  with  you." 

uWhy,"  he  hesitated,  "it's  very  sudden — the  last  minute 
like.  Hain't  ye  got  no  friends'?  I  mean  no  men-folks'?" 

" No !"  the  girl  answered ;  "none."  She  went  on,  wringing 
her  hands  with  a  kind  of  terror,  and  looking  over  her  shoulder 
as  if  she  expected  to  be  interrupted.  "  You  must  take  me.  I 
must  leave  this  place  at  once.  It  is  death  to  me  to  stay  here 
longer." 

The  farmer  looked  at  her  hands.  There  were  two  or  three 
handsome  diamonds  upon  them.  Then  he  looked  at  her  attire. 
She  was  in  mourning,  her  dress  of  a  rich  dark  material,  more 
shapely  and  stylish,  he  thought,  than  any  his  Kitty  had  ever 
worn.  Altogether  she  looked  a  singular  person  to  be  wishing 


THE    QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  25 

to  cross  the  plains.  Why  didn't  she  go  down  to  Orleans  and 
take  the  steamer,  and  cross  the  Isthmus?  She  read  his 
thoughts. 

"Don't  hesitate;  you  musn't,  indeed  you  musirt.  I'll  pay 
well — believe  me — and  in  advance,  too.  I  tell  you  I  must 
leave  Missouri — leave  the  neighborhood  of  the  Mississippi.  I'll 
give  very,  very  little*  trouble ;  and  I'll  help  your  wife  and 
daughter.  I  can  be  very  useful;  and-^-and — see  here!" 

Her  trembling  lingers  had  sought  and  opened  a  reticule,  and 
she  drew  forth  a  large  purple  silk  purse.  It  was  filled  with 
golden  eagles. 

"It's  curus,"  thought  Seth  Armstrong;  "dreadful  curus." 
T&en  aloud  and  suddenly,  "Ye  hain't  done  nuthiif  you're 
ashamed  on,  and  hev  to  run  away  to  escape  the  consequences, 
have  ye*?  cos •" 

"No,  no,  no!"  cried  she.     "  I  have  never  done  a 
man  or  woman!     Never!  so  help  me  heaven,  never !     But- 

She  put  her  face  close  to  Seth's,  and  whispered  a  sentence  in 
his  ear. 

''It's  impossible!"  he  exclaimed;  and  then  again,  after  a 
pause,  "  It  can't  be." 

"  As  I  am  a  woman  it  is  true." 

Another  pause  longer  than  before.  The  farmer  put  his  face 
in  his  two  hands,  cogitated  awhile,  and  then  spoke. 

"Ill  take  ye." 

"  You  will !     Oh,  thanks,  thanks !     I'll  give  you " 

"  I  don't  want  none  o'  your  money.  If  you've  a  mind  to 
help  mother  and  Kitty,  you  may." 

And  so  it  was  that  Mary  Anne  had  joined  the  party.  She 
told  Seth  her  Christian  name — no  other — and  by  it  he  intro 
duced  her  to  his  helpmate.  What  further  explanations  he 
vouchsafed  that  exacting  lady  need  not  here  be  recited  ;  enough 
that  they  were  sufficient  to  obtain  her  acquiescence  in  the  ar 
rangement  he  had  made.  She  offered  no  objections,  and  but 
one  recommendation,  namely,  that  the  young  lady  should  take 
off  them  'ere  duds,  and  put  on  others  more  suitable  for  the  jour 
ney  ;  so  that  the  prompt  adoption  of  her  suggestion  made  matters 
quite  amicable  all  round. 

Of  all  the  young  men  who  surrounded  her,  the  one  who 
at  the  outset  had  treated  Mary  Anne  with  the  greatest  distance 
was  Hugh  Gilford.  He  was  not  disrespectful  certainly,  or  even 
indifferent  towards  her ;  for  when  they  casually  met  he  omitted 
no  courtesy  due  to  a  lady  whose  position  was  thoroughly  de 
nned  and  understood.  But  beyond  this  he  made  no  step.  He 
2 


26  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

contented  himself  with  a  grave,  commonplace  civility,  and  there 
paused.  Perhaps  he  admired  her  rather  striking  appearance, 
and  that  with  something  of  an  artist's  eye.  But  no  look,  no 
tone,  no  lingering  glance  even,  which  might  have  been  supposed 
unseen,  betrayed  such  a  feeling.  Luke  Armstrong,  who  made 
not  the  slightest  effort  to  hide  his  own  honest  admiration  of  the 
girl,  expressed  surprise  not  unmingled*  with  indignation  at 
Gifford's  insensibility.  "'There's  a  gal,"  he  thought,  "who 
steps  like  a  fawn,  and  talks  like  a  runnin'  brook,  and  who's  got 
a  shape  and  an  eye  enough  to  set  a  man  a-fire,  and  that  there 
young  Yankee  looks  at  her  for  all  the  world  as  if  she  was  cut 
out  of  a  block  of  ice." 

It  is  one  of  the  many  strange  perversities  of  our  common 
nature  to  seek  to  make  revelations  to  those  who  never  ask  us 
questions.  Had  Gifford  approached  her  as  the  others  had,  he 
would  have  been  received  in  like  manner,  except,  indeed,  that 
his  superior  education  and  breeding  would  have  doubtless 
gained  him  a  gentler  spiriting.  But  the  very  reserve  which 
tinged  his  manner,  and  which  would  have  interposed  an  in 
superable  barrier  to  the  confidence  of  a  woman  of  coarser  nature, 
put  Mary  Anne  at  ease  with  him.  Indeed,  she  felt  better 
acquainted  with  Gifford  before  he  had  spoken  a  hundred  words 
to  her,  than  weeks  of  daily  intercourse  caused  her  to  feel  with 
the  others. 

Little  by  little,  as  time  wore  on,  they  began  to  talk,  and  to 
pick  up,  at  first  in  an  odd  desultory  way,  some  knowledge 
each  of  the  other.  Sometimes  the  occasion  would  be  the  sud 
den  coming  upon  some  glorious  view,  when  she  would  involun 
tarily  glance  quickly  about  to  catch  his  eye,  and  then  as  swiftly 
look  away  again.  Sometimes  a  curious  ilower  or  some  strange 
mineral  would  be  discovered,  and  would  draw  together  as  such 
things  will  those  who,  alone  of  the  party  save  Dr.  Landale, 
could  hazard  conjecture  as  to  its  classification  or  species.  Some 
times  the  Doctor,  who  kept  a  chart  and  a  log,  marking  the 
former  and  making  his  entries  in  the  latter  as  the  courses  and 
distances  for  each  day  were  computed,  would  challenge  them 
to  inspect  his  work,  and  thus  generate  discussion.  But  most 
frequently  these  confidences  were  interchanged  on  long  starry 
evenings,  when  it  happened  .that  Gifford  was  on  watch  and  the 
rest  were  quiet  in  sleep.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  party  to 
keep  watch  and  watch  as  on  shipboard — a  measure  highly  ne 
cessary  where  Indians  as  well  as  wild  animals  abound ;  and 
Ichabod  had  been  early  detailed  with  Gifford.  The  poor  fellow's 
misfortune  did  not  affect  his  usefulness  in  this  or  in  many  other 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  27 

respects ;  unless  he  had  been,  as  sometimes  happened,  over- 
fatigued  ;  the  mind  would  then  foil  to  control  the  body,  and  he 
would  sink  into  heavy  slumbers.  However,  this  watch  was 
numerically  stronger  than  the  others,  since  it  included  Lion ; 
and,  as  the  dog  never  slept  when  his  master  did,  there  was  no 
loss  of  vigilance  involved.  Mary  Anne  had  kindled  in  the 
simple  mind  of  Kitty  Armstrong  some  little  taste  for  astronomy ; 
and  the  two  would  emerge  from  the  Castle  when  all  was  silent 
to  tell  over  and  watch  the  constellations.  Kitty  would  soon 
weary,  however,  even  with  the  most  interesting  of  teachers,  and 
she  would  often  fall  asleep  by  the  camp-fire.  Occasionally, 
Seth  Armstrong,  anxious  for  the  safety  of  his  flock,  would  turn 
out  from  his  comfortable  berth  and  take  a  survey  of  the  state 
of  things;  but  as  he  liked  Kitty  to  "get  all  the  learniu'  she 
could,"  and  saw  no  harm  "so  long  as  the  gals  was  together," 
he  never  objected  to  these  midnight  gatherings. 

It  was  on  such  an  occasion,  and  on  a  night  like  that  which 
followed  the  merriment  described  in  the  last  chapter,  that 
Hugh  Gifford  told  Mary  Anne  something  of  his  early  life. 

They  had  been  speaking  of  the  motives  which  had  led  the 
little  company  to  brave  the  toils  and  dangers  of  their  present 
journey. 

'•  The  father  would  rather  be  with  his  family,  the  mother  will 
not  be  separated  from  her  son ;  the  son  alone  avows  his  real 
object,  which  is,  after  all,  the  object  of  all,-  gold.  They  have 
nothing  else  to  care  for,  nothing  else  to  hope  for.  It  is  what 
the  children  have  heard  of  all  their  lives  as  the  sole  end  and 
goal  of  existence.  The  yeoman  wants  it,  the  backwoodsman 
wants  it,  the  trader  wants  it,  the  very  half-wit  here  wants  it,  as 
his  poor  childish  talk,  continually  dwelling  on  the  subject, 
proves." 

"  And  do  not  you,  too,  want  it  ?"  asked  Mary  Anne  gravely. 

"I?  More  than  all  the  others.  What  am  I  without  it? 
Nothing.  What,  in  this  land,  can  I  be  with  it  ?  Everything." 

"  I  am  sony." 

"Sorry?" 

"I  should  have  hoped  you  had  some  nobler  thought  for  your 
future ;  some  purer  ambition,  some  higher  aspiration." 

"  Why  go  to  California,  but  for  gold?" 

"  Ah,  but  only  as  a  means  to  an  end.  Xot  for  its  own  sordid 
sake,  but  to  enable  you  to  do  good.  To  relieve  undeserved 
suffering  by  making  some  forlorn  ones  happy.  To  help  obscure 
merit  onward  and  upward  in  its  struggle  to  rise  above  the  world, 
which  might  otherwise  scorn  and  trample  upon  it.  Is  there  not 


28 


OR, 


more  pleasure  in  .this  than  in  mere  wealth  for  its  own  sake?" 

'  •  Perhaps.  I  think  I  should  like  to  do  good.  But  one  must 
first  have  the  means.  It  is  idle  to  speculate  on  the  possible 
good  a  man  might  do  while  he  continues  without  them." 

"You  have — pardon  me — you  have  suffered  much  from  the 
want  of  money  perhaps c?" 

"  Yes  and  no.  Others  have  been  poorer  than  I ;  plenty,  no 
doubt,  more  deserving.  But  I  doubt  that  many  have  felt  poverty 
more  keenly ;  have  craved  so  much  for  wealth,  not  caring  a 
straw  for  the  luxury  it  would  buy,,  but  to  escape  the  scorn  of 
the  vulgar  and  ignoble  whose  presence  I  could  not  escape  ;  the 
low  and  mean,  who  hated  me  because  they  thought  me  educated 
without  being  rich,  and  who  sneered  at  the  idea  of  a  pauper 
being  proud." 

"  But  you  came  from  Massachusetts,  the  State  which  spends 
so  much  money  for  free  schools  ;  the  State  which  of  all  others 
should  hold  education  and  brains  in  the  highest  esteem ;  the 
State  where  money  as  compared  with  intelligence  should  carry 
lowest  honor." 

"  It  may  be  so  in  theory ;  I  only  know  what  it  is  in  practice. 
I  only  know  that  from  the  schools  themselves — where  the  rich 
men's  sons  lord  it  in  pitying  scorn  over  their  poorer  mates — to 
the  churches  and  courts,  and  marts  of  trade,  gold  is  the  measure 
of  each  man's  standing,  reputation,  influence.  Is  this  unnatural? 
It  is  such  a  measure  for  the  simplest  of  reasons,  because  there  is 
no  other." 

"I  have  read  much  of  social  life  in  New  England,  and  what 
I  have  read  scarcely  consists  with  what  you  say.  Has  not  your 
case  been  a  peculiar  one  ?  Have  you  not  begn — if  you  will  let 
me  say  so — have  you  not  been  too  sensitive  ?" 

"Possibly!  You  shall  judge.  I  thank  Heaven  that  for  a 
time,  at  least,  I  have  left  New  England  behind  me.  There  may 
be  society  there  more  elevated — a  moral  atmosphere  more 
genial  than  I  have  any  knowledge  of.  My  own  experience 
stamps  the  first  as  narrow,  selfish  and  conceited — the  second  as 
inconceivably  grovelling  and  sordid.  I  will  tell  you  something 
of  that  experience,  although  I  fear  it  has  little  to  interest  you. 
I  will  tell  you  because  you  may  find  in  it  something  to  palliate 
views  and  feelings  which  may  strike  you,  perhaps,  as  warped 
and  cynical." 

"  No !  I  only  think  you  are  angry  now,  because  no  doubt 
you  have  been  badly  treated.  You  must  know  I  am  rather 
prejudiced.  I  ha,ve  for  years  regarded  Ne\v  England  as  a  sort 
of  haven  of  justice  for  all  kinds  and  conditions  of  men  ;  a  place 


THE    QUEST    FOTC     FORTUNE.  29 

where  none  could  go  without  being  valued,  trusted,  and 
rewarded  for  what  they  are ;  and  that,  without  regard  to  the 
smiles  or  frowns  of  all  the  world  beside." 

"  New  England  and  its  people  have  great  merits,  no  doubt. 
There  are  numbers,  without  question,  who  can  justly  and  grace 
fully  sound  her  praises  from  the  depths  of  their  own  knowledge, 
from  the  sincerity  of  their  own  gratitude.  I  cannot.  True,  mine 
may  be  a  rare,  an  exceptional  case ;  but  such  as  it  is,  you  shall 
hear  its  history." 

He  rose  as  he  spoke,  and  taking  his  rifle  made  one  of  those 
swift  circuits  of  the  sleeping  camp  which  it  was  part  of  the  duty 
of  those  on  watch  now  and  again  to  perform.  In  a  few 
moments  he  returned. 

'•  I  have  so  rarely  put  confidence  in  any  one,"  he  said  rather 
diffidently,  as  he  resumed  his  seat  by  the  girl's  side,  "that  it 
conies  awkwardly  enough  to  relate  my  own  poor  adventures. 
You  will  make  large  allowance,  I  am  sure,  for  the  want  of  grace 
or  lluency  in  the  narrative."' 

Mary  Anne  bowed  in  assent,  and  as  she  did  so,  one  or  two 
of  the  burning  logs  of  the  camp  fire  fell  in  and  the  flames  shot 
up  with  a  ruddier  glow  ;  and  if  Hugh  Gifford  had  been  looking 
as  closely  as  most  men  would  have  looked  at  the  lovely  lace 
beside  him,  he  might  have  seen,  or  fancied,  a  warmer  interest  than 
that  mere  assent  implied.  He  went  on  with  his  story  : 

"  My  father  was  an  Englishman,  who  left  his  native  land  early 
in  life.  Why  he  did  so,  and  why  in  doing  so  he  chose  America 
for  a  home,  I  never  knew.  When  he  died,  I  was  still  to  young 
to  have  been  told  of  such  things  ;  and  afterwards,  if  any  about 
knew  of  them,  none  took  the  trouble  to  en^ghten  me.  My 
lather  was  unfortunate,  very.  Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  that  his 
own  weaknesses  were  the  active  causes  of  his  misfortunes  ;  but 
I  do  not  like  to  say  that,  for  none  knew  what  he  may  have 
suffered  in  Ins  youth,  and  miserable  detractors  said  it  too  often, 
who  were  unworthy  to  tie  his  shoes.  He  was  a  gentleman.  I 
know.  A  gentleman  by  birth,  by  breeding,  by  education.  If 
this  fact  had  happily  been  unknown  to  my  early  associates,  my 
life  might  have  been  -the  pleasanter. 

••My  father  married,  too,  in  this  country.  The  marriage  was 
not  a  happy  one  Over  this  I  would  also  draw  a  veil,  so  far  as 
well  I  may.  An  Englishman's  idea  of  the  duty  of  a  wife,  and 
an  American  woman's  of  that  of  a  husband  might  easily  clash, 
as  those  experienced  in  both  perfectly  well  know.  Still  they 
might  have  agreed  and  been  happy,  had  they  been  left  to 
themselves.  She  was  a  pure-minded  and  conscientious  woman, 


30  '   MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

and,  albeit  he  gave  her  much  cause  for  complaint,  she-  "would 
have  gained  an  influence  which  might,  have  softened  and  con 
trolled  his  foibles  and  laid  the  basis  for  a  happy  future.'  She 
was  very  young  at  the  time  of  their  marriage,  and  her  character 
had  scarcely  had  time  to  mature.  When  it  might  have  done  so, 
with  results  all-important  to  the  whole  lives  of  both  my  parents 
and  that  of  their  child,  my  mother's  brothers  interfered,  and 
sowed  the  seeds  of  incurable  dissension  between  herself  and  her 
husband.  They  took  advantage  of  my  father's  temporary  absence 
i — an  absence  unfortunately  connected  with  his  besetting  weak 
ness — to  poison  her  mind  against  him.  They  persuaded  her  to 
return  a  letter  reversed,  and  otherwise  unanswered,  which  he 
had  sent  her.  The  expedient-  succeeded,  and  my  father  and 
mother,  in  this  world  at  least,  never  met  again. 

"  These  men,  the  brothers,  thought  they  were  doing  their 
sister  a  service.  As  to  my  father,  they  were  utterly  incapable 
of  understanding  or  appreciating  him.  They  were  men  in  busi 
ness,  not  exactly  tradesmen,  but  a  step  or  twTo  above  it;  and 
with  true  New  England  feeling  they  conceived  that  their  regu 
lar  attention  to  daily  routine,  and  their  smug  companionship 
with  other  common-place  money-grubbers  like  themselves,  en 
dowed  them  with  a  worldly  status  far  above  that  of  my  father, 
who  was  poor,  irregular  in  his  habits,  and — a  gentleman. 
While  they  thought  they  were  doing  their  sister  a  service,  they 
were  not  sorry  for  an  opportunity  to  humiliate  a  man  they  had 
never  quite  understood,  but  had  always  somewhat  feared.  He 
possessed  accomplishments  which  they  at  once  envied  and 
disliked.  He  had  .personal  courage  and  artistic  tastes,  which 
they  pretended  to  despise  or  to  consider  affected  ;  but  which,  in 
reality,  they  knew  to  be  the  badges  and  signs  of  a  superior 
nature  to  their  own,  the  marks  of  blood  which  no  prosperity 
could  have  emphasized,  any  more  than  any  misfortune  or  even 
vice  could  altogether  obliterate." 

"I  know  the  kind  of  man  you  mean,"  said  Mary  Anne, 
softly. 

"These  men  were  vindictive,  too,  as  well  as  short-sighted 
and  cowardly.  When  my  father  married,  although  not  rich,  he 
was  affluent  as  compared  with  them.  They  were  young  in  the 
world,  needy,  almost  friendless,  almost  homeless.  lie  took 
them  by  the  hand,  aided  them  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  en 
couraged,  advanced,  stood  by  them.  They  were  of  the  true 
reptile  breed,  and  they  never  forgave  him.  They  got  on  and 
prospered,  as  the  little  world  went  in  which  they  moved,  and  at 
the  same  time  my  father  had  been  going  downward.  His  faults 


THE    QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  31 

were  patent  enough,  but  they-were  not  the  men  to  school  him 
on  them.  They  attempted  to  do  so,  however,  and  they  never 
pardoned  the  rebuke  which  they  had  thus  provoked. 

"  Therefore,  when  they  had  contrived  to  bring  about  a  rup 
ture  between  my  father  and  mother ;  when  they  had  managed 
to  put  asunder  those  whom  God  had  joined  together;  they  went 
about  with  busy  lies  and  innuendoes  and  prevarications,  to  the 
end  that  public  opinion  might  trample  my  father  still  deeper 
into  the  mire,  and  that  my  mother,  well  plied  with  their  accounts 
of  his  misconduct  during  the  term  of  their  separation,  should 
learn  to  regard  as  final  and  insuperable  the  barrier  they  had 
erected  between  herself  and  her  husband.  It  became  so  ;  the 
efforts  of  a  few  kindlier  hearts,  who  remembered  the  brightness 
nnd  promise  of  the  early  days  of  their  marriage,  for  they  were 
both  very  handsome  and  attractive  people,  never  surmounted  it. 

"But  New  England  is  very  observant  and  sharp-tongued 
whenever,  from  whatever  cause,  any  suspension  occurs  of  ordi 
nary  marital  relations.  If  man  and  wife  must  perforce  separate, 
they  had  best  keep  out  of  the  territory  of  the  Pilgrims.  My 
mother  was  too  proud  to  explain,  to  remonstrate,  or  to  propi 
tiate,  and  she  was  neither  rich  enough  nor  strong  enough  to 
brave  the  world's  opinion.  Her  position  grew  more  equivocal 
and  more  difficult  as  time  wore  on.  Then  her  brothers,  who 
had  young  families  growing  up,  were  thriving  in  their  callings, 
and  were  full  of  social  ambition,  treated  her  with  more  and 
more  distance  and  coldness.  Finally,  the  slender  thread  snapped 
altogether,  and  they  never  met  at  all.  Thus  my  poor  mother 
was  deserted  by  the  kindred  who  had  brought  about  her  great 
est  misfortune  in  life.  She  lingered  on  for  a  few  years  and  died. 
Sonic  people  called  her  mortal  illness  by  one  name,  and  some 
by  another;  but  she  died  of  a  broken  heart." 

"And  your  father?" 

"  He,  too,  died  ;  it  was  a  year  before  her,  and  the  circum 
stances  were  very  painful.  His  death,  no  doubt,  accelerated  her 
own.  Meanwhile,  I  had  been  sent  to  various  schools.  I  was 
ten  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  separation,  and  for  some  time 
after  was  left  in  my  mother's  unmolested  charge.  She  did  all 
she  could  for  me,  nay,  more  than  with  her  slender  means  she 
was  justified  in  doing ;  but,  as  I  said  before,  she  was  conscien 
tious,  and  would  do  more  rather  than  less  than  her  duty.  After 
my  eleventh  birthday  there  was  some  painful  litigation,  and  it 
resulted  in  my  going  to  my  father ;  but  neither  he  nor  uiy 
mother  lived  until  my  twelfth." 

"You  were,  then,  left  an  orphan?" 


32  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"  Yes ;  one  of  my  mother's  brothers,  the  one  who  had  per 
haps  most  heart  of  the  three,  sent  me  to  a  boarding-school,  and 
afterwards  to  another  and  another.  I  was  miserable  in  all ;  yet 
I  know  not  that  he  could  have  done  better  for  me.  The  boys 
always  found  out  by  some  inexplicable,  but  never-lacking  in 
stinct,  that  there  was  something  wrong  in  my  family  matters. 
And  they  were  worthy  soils  of  their  New  England  sires,  for 
they  made  me  feel  it  more  bitterly  than  if  it  had  arisen  through 
some  crime  of  my  own.  They  also  discovered,  by  more  ob 
vious  means,  that  I  was  very  poor — a  sin  even  worse  than  the 
other.  The  first  reproach  might  readily  have  been  condoned, 
had  the  conditions  of  the  second  been  reversed,  but  the  two  to 
gether  were  inexpiable.  They  shunned  me,  pointed  at  me  be 
tween  their  malignant  whispers,  wrote  bitter  taunts  in  fly 
leaves  of  my  school  books  which  fell  into  their  hands.  I  don't 
know  that  they  ever  analyzed  their  opinions,  but  if  they  did  they 
resolved  them  down  to  the  firm  basis  that  a  boy  whose  parents 
lived  apart,  and  who  at  the  same  time  had  no  money,  ought 
not,  as  a  matter  of  propriety,  to  be  allowed  to  live ;  and,  God 
knows,  if  they  entertained  such  a  conviction,  I  shared  it  with 
them.  . 

"I  had  few  companions,  and  hardly  ever  joined  in  the  usual 
boyish  sports.  I  would  not  obtrude  myself,  and  I  was  rarely 
invited.  Those  of  my  schoolmates  who  were  better  off — by  far 
the  larger  number — seemed  to  despise  me,  and,  at  all  events, 
they  avoided  me  as  if  I  were  a  Pariah.  The  very  few  who  were 
even  humbler  than  myself,  or  younger,  or  more  ignorant,  usually 
discovered  that  I  was  the  son  of  an  Englishman,  and  cherished  a 
prejudice  on  that  account.  I  believe  they  thought  my  father 
had  some  mysterious  connection  with  Greville's  wickedness,  or 
had  had  a  hand  in  the  preparation  of  the  Stamp  Act.  Nearly 
all  these  boys  were  mean  and  acquisitive  ;  they  were  shop 
keepers  and  money-grubbers  in  embryo.  They  swapped  knives, 
gambled  for  marbles,  and  were  continually  over-reaching  each 
other  in  juvenile  speculations,  thus  actively  preparing  for  the 
business  of  life.  They  had  all  the  greed,  the  narrowness,  the 
sectarian  pride,  and  exclusiveness  of  their  progenitors,  in 
little ;  you  will  not  wonder  that  I  liked  them  no  better  than 
they  liked  me. 

"  I  was  the  son  of  an  Englishman,  and  few  transplanted 
trees  will  thrive.  From  my  earliest  youth  I  found,  irrespective 
of  human  beings  and  their  peculiarities,  much  to  displease  me 
and  rouse  my  aversion  in  surrounding  objects  and  in  natural 
vicissitudes.  I  disliked  the  burning  heat  of  the  summers,  and 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  33 

the  piercing,  dismal  cold  of  the  winters.  I  disliked  the  square, 
white-painted,  wooden  houses  which  covered  .the  hillsides  and 
villages,  with  the  treeless  wastes  which  surrounded,  and  the 
mathematically  straight  roads  which  led  to  them.  I  disliked 
the  unmeaning,  fragile  meeting-houses,  with  their  monotonous 
spires,  their  canting  preachers,  and  the  innumerable  and  inde 
scribable  sectarians,  their  congregations.  I  yearned  for  the  soft, 
moist-tempered  clime  of  the  olden  home,  with  its  winding  green 
lanes,  its  masses  of  comfortable  foliage,  its  stout -built  little  cot 
tages  all  covered  with  thatch  and  running  vines,  its  dear  crum 
bling  old  churches,  all  reverend  and  gray  with  time,  and  rich 
with  stores  of  ivy  which  had  taken  so  long  to  grow.  Was 
there  necessarily  an  inseparable  bond  between  unlimited  free 
dom  and  unlimited  ugliness'?  Must  forest  trees  always  be 
destroyed  in  republics,  and  where  universal  suffrage  is  must  the 
streets  of  cities  be  like  chess-boards '?"' 

u  You  speak  of  the  accidental  peculiarities  of  a  new  country, 
not  of  those  of  a  republic.  What  you  craved  conies  as  the  work 
ot  time,  and  not  of  kings.  The  republics  of  Greece  and  Rome 
left  temples  and  high  places  glorious  and  venerable  enough." 

' '  Yes ;  but  I  was  a  boy  then,  and  naturally  associated  politi 
cal  conditions  with  their  repellent- accompaniments;  and  still, 
now  that  I  am  a  man,  I  find  that  mental  peculiarities  present 
many  analogies  to  physical  ones.  I  find  now,  as  I  found  then, 
that  the  processes  which  sweep  away  nobility,  national  religion, 
class  privileges,  whatever  their  advantage,  bring  no  substitutes 
as  yet  for  the  incentives  they  displace.  It  may  be  untrue  that 
extension  of  suffrage  makes  the  popular  choice  of  little  value, 
but  I  know  that  abrogation  of  the  things  I  name  has  practically 
left  no  spur  for  ambition  save  the  hope  of  wealth.  Wherever 
I  turned  in  my  boyhood  I  saw  nothing  else.  I  saw  that  if  I 
would  hold  any  position  in  the  world,  wield  any  power,  be  suc 
cessful  in  love — anything — I  must  first  of  all  get  money." 

"  Be  successful  in  love "?"'  repeated  Mary  Anne. 

"  Yes.  I  am  coining  to  the  end  of  my  sad,  and  I  fear  dull, 
tale.  As  you  have  seen,  my  childhood  was  lonely  and  loveless  ; 
my  youth  was  sadlier  still,  for,  as  I  grew  older,  I  felt  even  more 
keenly  the  slurs  that  were  cast  upon  my  station  and  my  origin. 
Books  were  almost  my  only  companions.  To  this,  when  I  had 
reached  the  age  of  sixteen,  there  came  one  particular  exception.  I 
had  been  placed  in  a  country  attorney's  office  to  read  law.  A  small 
sum  left  by  my  poor  father  sufficed  to  pay  for  my  schooling,  and 
to  give  me  this  little  start  in  the  world — scarcely  more.  I  was, 
therefore,  happily  spared  what  would  have  been  inexpressibly 


34  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

odious — the  being  under  pecuniary  obligation  to  my  uncle.  My 
solicitude  was  probably  misplaced ;  for  I  have  since  reflected 
that,  had  this  small  sum  not  existed,  he  would  have  thrust  me 
forth  long  before  to  shift  for  myself.  In  this  attorney's  office  I 
found  a  young  man,  one  of  the  few  generous  natures  I  have 
ever  encountered.  He  was  the  son  of  a  well-to-do  farmer,  of 
Lenox,  in  Berkshire  county.  In  our  vacation  he  invited  me  to 
visit  his  father's  house.  I  accepted,  and  there  for  the  first  time 
met  his  sister.  She  was  very  beautiful,  and  her  name  was  Vir 
ginia," 

"  Was  she  fair  or  dark?  " 

"  Fair,  very  fair.  With  hair  of  gold  and  skin  of  pearl.  She 
had  one  charm  rare  in  a  New  England  girl — a  low,  musical 
voice ;  and  another  not  so  rare,  a  sweetly-winning  smile.  I 
won't  weary  you  with  a  conventional  love  story.  We  found 
much  to  like  in  each  other;  for  her,  none  could  help  being 
attracted  by  her,  and  I  suppose  I  was  fascinated  into  taking 
great  pains  to  conceal  my  faults.  My  visit  was  repeated  again 
and  again,  and  at  last,  with  her  acquiescence,  I  asked  Mr.  Chester 
to  sanction  our  engagement.  He  listened  with  kindness,  and 
I  thought  regarded  my  suit  with  favor.  When  I  had  concluded, 
however,  he  seemed  embarrassed,  and  after  a  pause  tsaid  : 

; "  I  like  ye  very  much,  Mr.  Gilford,  and  so  does  John,  arid  so, 
I  expect,  does  Virginia ;  but  you  see  there's  been  a  good  deal 
o'  talk — your  folks,  you  know,  was — that  is,  you  know  your 
father  was ' 

"  '  My  father  was  a  gentleman,  Mr.  Chester.' 

"  '  I  don't  know  anything  about  that ;  but  how  much  money  did 
he  leave  ye? 

11  I  was  forced  to  confess  that,  at  the  end  of  my  probation  in 
the  lawyer's  office,  I  should  not  have  more  than  a  couple  of 
hundred  dollars  left.  Mr  Chester's  countenance  fell.  He 
went  on : 

"  '  I  woudn't  a  cared  so  much  'bout  your  folks,  you  know ; 
though  it's  a  pity— and  your  father,  you  know — not  but  that  I've 
heerd  he  was  a  nice  man — only  folks  will  talk — but  if  he  hain't 
left  ye  no  money,  what  d'ye  calculate  to  git  married  on  ?' 

"  I  explained  that  it  was  my  hope,  after  being  admitted  to  the 
bar,  to  obtain  an  income  through  the  practice  of  my  profession. 

"  '  Ah,  that's  dreadful  uncertain,  ain't  it?  When  I  put  John 
in  Squire  Tarbox's  office  he  told  me  right  out  that  a  young  man 
was'nt  likely  to  git  more  the  fust  five  year  than  he'd  git  by 
goin'  huckleberry  in',  aad  John's  arrangements  was  made 
accordingly.' 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  35 

"  This  was  a  dark  prospect,  and  I  knew  what  the  farmer  said 
was  true.  I  was  not — or  rather  had  not  been — without  the 
usual  dreams  of  boyhood,  wherein  we  see  ourselves  achieving 
wonders  altogether  out  of  the  common  way.  But  I  knew  that 
even  if  uncommon  obstacles  did  not  lie  in  my  path — which,  how 
ever,  they  always  did — the  average  chances  at  the  New  England 
country  bar  had  not  been  too  sombrely  painted.  I  resolved  to 
go  to  Boston.  There  a  wider  field  presented  itself,  and  prefer 
ment  might  come  faster.  -  Mr.  Chester  seemed  pleased  with  my 
resolution  and  encouraged  it. 

•  •  •  If  ye  go  to  Boston  ye  may  git  better  chances  certainly ;  and 
I'll  tell  ye  Vhat  I'll  do.  YouVe  got  a  year  longer  to  read 
before  you're  admitted  ?  Well,  if  you  come  to  me  in  three  years' 
time,  and  show  me  three  thousand  dollars — that's  jest  the  amount 
of  a  mo'gage  lyhr  on  this  nere  farm — all  your  own  money,mind — 
I  dunno  as  I'll  oppose  things  between  you  and. Virginia.  But 
if  this  is  agreed,  I  won't  have  nothiir  gin  out  about  engagements 
in  the  mean  time.' 

"  Upon  this  basis  our  bargain  was  struck.  Within  the  year,  I 
passed,  and  went  to  Boston.  I  struggled  hard,  read  early  and 
late,  tasked  my  energies  and  my  ingenuity  to  the  last  degree  to 
fight  upward.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  No  one  seemed  to  wi-h 
to  employ  me.  I  had  no  friends,  no  influence.  My  uncles,  who 
might  have  assisted  me,  kept  aloof.  They  even .  went  further, 
and.  as  I  have  since  heard,  secretly  disparaged  my  capacity 
and  my  character.  Their  vengeance  on  my  father  was  not  yet 
appeased.  The  three  years  passed  and  I  was  poorer  than  ever. 
Just  then  the  news  came  of  the  discovery  of  the  gold  in  Cali 
fornia,  and  I  at  once  determined  to  make  my  way  thither.  I 
went  into  Berkshire,  explained  my  position  and  my  new  deter 
mination,  and,  with  some  difficulty,  arranged  with  Mr.  Chester 
for  a  probation  of  two  years  more." 

"  And  does  she — Virginia — love  you  ?" 

"  She  has  often  told  me  so." 

"  You  will  correspond  ?" 

"  I  am  to  find  letters  from  her  on  our  arrival." 

Such  was  the  story  of  Hugh  Gifforcl.  and'  such  was  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  communicated  to  Maiy  Anne.  She  accepted  it 
as  the  record  of  a  highly  sensitive  nature  grown  morbid  through 
the  stress  of  a  false  position  and  thwarted  sensibilities.  His 
yearnings  for  the  life  and  scenery  of  the  old  worn-out  land  across 
the  sea  were  the  reflexes  of  much  reading ;  growths  sown  in 
discontent  and  stimulated  by  the  want  of  sympathy  with  those 
around  him.  His  strong  desire  for  gold  was,  to  her,  something 


36  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR. 

repugnant  and  unnatural,  and  doubtless  it  lowered  him  somewhat 
in  her  esteem.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  that  in  his  iso 
lation,  his  delicacy,  and  his  apparent  need  of  sympathy,  which 
constantly  attracted  her.  Whether  or  not  she  had  gone  so  far 
as  to  allow  her  feelings  to  become .  seriously  interested  in  the 
young  man  we  need  not  pause  to  inquire ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
the  announcement  of  his  engagement  gave  Mary  Anne  a  sudden 
shock,  an  unexpected  pang.  Hugh  Gilford  was  one  of  the  last 
men  of  whom  you  would  think  to  hear  it  said  that  he  was  en 
gaged  to  be  married  ;  and  yet  you  would  have  been  puzzled,  as 
Mary  Anne  was,  to  explain  the  reason  why.  After  a  while  you 
might  come  to  the  conclusion,  as  she  did,  that  there  was  so 
much  self-restraint,  so  much  reticence  in  his  character,  as  to 
make  it  improbable  that  he  would  ever  go  so  far  with  any  woman 
as  to  say  that  he  loved  her.  This  sort  of  man  is  very  generally 
misunderstood,  and  almost  always  misleads  those  who  seek  to 
fathom  him.  He  is  like  a  mill  pond,  which  the  higher  and  closer 
the  dam  the  more  sweeping  and  abundant  is  the  flood  it  pours 
forth  when  the  barrier  is  once  overleaped. 

Whatever  the  girl's  sentiments  might  have  bocome,  whatever 
seeds  might  have  found  lodgment  in  her  breast  capable  of  quick 
ening  into  blossoms,  this  name  of  Virginia  had  been  a  spell,  if 
not  to  freeze  and  destroy,  at  least  to  thrust  them  away  far  from 
the  light  into  her  heart's  innermost  recesses.  If  any  observer 
could  have  suspected  her  feelings  before,  they  should  never 
have  grounds  for  suspicion  hereafter.  Every  avenue  was  guard 
ed  henceforth  with  trusty  sentinels  of  maidenly  reserve.  Mary 
Anne  and  Gilford  were  good  friends  for  the  future,  and  nothing 
more. 

In  the  capacity  of  friends 'then,  they  had  many  a  discussion 
and,  perhaps,  some  useful  interchange  of  thought.  It  has  been 
seen  that  Mary  Anne's  opinions  of  New  England  had  been  as 
sailed,  not  to  say  outraged,  by  the  tale  which  she  had  heard. 
Ever  since  she  had  learned  to  read,  New  England,  and  especially 
Massachusetts,  had  been  cherished  in  her  convictions  as  the 
happiest  and  justest  of  communities;  the  Utopia  where,  if  ever 
social  and  political  justice  had  existed  on  earth,  they  could 
be  sought  and  found.  In  New  England  was  labor  respected, 
intellect  cherished,  virtue  canonized,  gray  hairs  reverenced.  In 
New  England  was  truth  discovered,  thought  unshackled,  merit 
sought  out  with  diligence  and  crowned  with  honor.  In  New 
England  was  the  place  of  sanctuary,  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed, 
the  cradle  of  liberty  ! 

To  her,  Boston  was  more  than  Mecca  to  a  true  believer,  and 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  37 

Faneuil  Hall  greater  than  the  Holy  Temple.  And  was  this 
hallowed  country,  this  vaunted  intellectual  and  moral  paradise, 
this  exemplar  among  the  nations,  no  more  than  the  home  of  a 
vulgar  and  base-minded  plutocracy?  The  lair  of  a  crew  of 
idolaters  setting  up  a  worship  more  ignoble  and  more  sordid  than 
that  of  the  veriest  slaves  who  ever  crawled  to  thrust  then*  necks 
under  the  foot  of  a  tyrant  ?  They  were  in  fine  condition  truly, 
these  republicans,  to  despise  the  subjects  of  kings !  There 
might  be  something  at  least  of  dignity  in  such  a  potentate — 
ancient  lineage,  the  association  of  a  magical  name  with  heroic 
deeds  of  the  past,  long-time  consent,  and  reverence  of  ancestors ; 
but  what  could  there  be  about  this  wretched  parvenu,  this  mon 
arch  of  yellow  earth,  that  the  children  of  the  Puritans  should 
fall  down  and  worship  him ! 

Alas,  alas  I  that  the  purest  and  most  aspiring  should  be  little 
abler  than  the  meanest  to  shake  off  burthens,  to  shiver  the  yoke 
of  oppressors,  without  taking  on  of  themselves  yokes'  and  bur 
thens  of  different  but  no  nobler  species,  in  the  room  of  those 
they  have  bled  and  died  to  break  and  to  destroy ! 

After  all,  what  right  had  Hugh  Gifford  to  speak  thus  of  his 
home,  of  the  land  which  gave  him  birth  ?  His  views  were  un 
just,  distorted,  seen  with  a  jaundiced  eye ;  for  by  his  own  con 
fession  he  was  disappointed,  nay,  disgusted  with  his  lot.  Her 
own  estimate  of  New  England  might  be  the  truer  one  yet ;  and 
still  had  he  not  lived  there  all  the  days  of  his  life,  and  she%  not 
one  ?  Was  he  hot  better  fitted  to  form  a  judgment,  to  express  a 
censure  ?  Perhaps;  but  then  again  she  remembered  how  lov 
ingly  he  had  spoken  of  Old  England — of  her  green  fields  and 
hoaiy  ruins,  her  placid  streams  and  happy  rural  homes — of  the 
order  and  comfort  of  her  society,  where  all  were  by  the  law 
equally  protected,  whether  living  in  haughty  castles  or  in  those 
lowly,  comfortable  cottages.  What  did  he  know  of  the  Old 
England  more  than  she  knew  of  the  Xew  ?  He  had  never  been 
in  the  one  any  more  than  she  had  been  in  the  other.  And  she — 
she  could  tell  a  bitterer  tale  of  wrong  and  oppression  than  had 
ever  fallen  to  his  lot ;  had  greater  cause  to  magnify  the  beauty  of 
a  distant  picture  by  comparison  with  the  poverty  or  discomfort 
of  that  which  is  near.  Evidently  they  had  the  same  disposition, 
how  different  soever  their  natures  otherwise  might  be — the  dis 
position  which  comforts  and  gilds  so  much  of  life  in  this  iron 
world  of  ours,  to  idealize  the  unknown. 


38  MARIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THERE  was  that  about  Mary  Anne  to  more  than  justify  even 
the  extravagant  admiration  of  Luke  Armstrong.  She  was  a 
woman,  indeed,  who  would  have  attracted  more  attention  in  a 
London  ball-room  than  on  a  western  prairie ;  since  where  nature 
is  most  unchecked  and  luxuriant  we  look  for  physical  types  to 
correspond  as  matters  of  course.  You  might  have  thought,  in 
regarding  her,  of  Diana  and  Juno ;  but  you  would  have  been 
sure  to  feel,  a  moment  after,  that  there  was  too  much  womanli 
ness  about  the  girl  to  vindicate  her  comparison  with  cither. 
There  was  an  ease  and  freedom  about  her  carriage  which,  for 
some  inexplicable  reason,  is  uncommon  writh  American  women : 
for,  although  the  European  organization,  being  transplanted,  does 
unquestionably  acquire,  sooner  or  later,  certain  aboriginal  charac 
teristics,  the  particular  ones  of  grace  and  dignity  in  movement 
and  bearing,  so  marked  in  the  American  savage,  are  not  repro 
duced  in  his  civilized  successor. 

Perhaps  Mary  Anne  was  the  gainer  in  grace  through  being 
untrammelled  with  unsightly  crinoline ;  yet,  as  this  was  an  im 
munity  she  enjoyed  in  common  with  the  Armstrongs,  mother 
and  daughter,  as  also  with  the  unsophisticated  Bridget,  neither 
of  whom  walked  or  stood  like  her,  it  was  clearly  nature  and  not 
art  which  was  to  be  credited  for  the  advantage.  Her  limbs,  not 
being  confined  in  an  iron  cage  then,  moved  with  freedom,  and 
answered  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  made,  without  any 
suggestion  of  indelicacy,  such  as  the  admirers  and  promoters  of 
iron  cages  are  fond  of  detecting  in  their  absence.  The  girl  was 
unconventional  in  another  respect ;  for  her  massive  black  locks 
were  neither  frizzled  nor  padded,  nor  strained  backwards  with 
that  Chinese  arid  eye-torturing  effect  sometime  popular  with  the 
experts  of  fashion.  Her  forehead  was  high,  but  the  hair  grew 
low,  so  low  as  to  be  almost  a  defect,  and  was  parted  straight 
across  the  brows.  The  eyebrows  and  lashes  were,  like  the  hair, 
of  a  jetty  black ;  the  latter  would  have  seemed,  when  the  eyes 
were  closed,  superfluously  lengthy  and  sweeping ;  but  when  they 
opened,  the  eyes  were  found  large  enough  to  justify  such  abun 
dant  curtains.  The  nose  was  straight,  the  lips  perfect,  and  the 
teeth  dazzlingly  white.  If  the  face  had  a  fault,  it  was  that  the 
chin  was  a  trifle  too  large ;  it  expressed,  perhaps,  too  much  will 
to  be  in  strict  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  features. 


THE    QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  39 

As  we  have  seen,  she  wore  a  gown  of  plain  worsted  stuff, 
which  fitted  closely  to  a  figure  whose  comeliness  left  nothing  to 
desire.  The  hands  and  leet,  without  being  remarkably  small, 
were  beautifully  shaped ;  and  although  the  latter  might  have  ap 
peared  to  better  advantage  than  in  their  deerskin  moccasins  with 
sole  of  elk,  which  were  Vound  best  for  general  purposes  on  the 
prairie,  and  the  former  had  become  somewhat  browned  by  the 
sun.  their  natural  symmetry  could  not  be  altogether  concealed. 

The  inner  nature*  of  this  young  woman  was  well  expressed  in 
her  physical  development.  So  far  as  enthusiasm,  ardency, 
strength  of  the  inclinations,  warmth  of  the  attachments  may  go, 
she  was  a  true  child  of  the  South.  With  less  heart  she  might 
have  been  cruel,  and  might  still  be  revengeful :  with  less  intel 
lect  she  might  have  been  passionate  and  voluptuous.  But  hap 
pily  the  elements  were  tolerably  well  balanced,  and  whatever 
might  lie  below  the  surface,  there  was  enough  above  it  to  make 
Mary  Anne  dangerously  attractive. 

It  was  not  surprising,  then,  that  Luke  Armstrong  should  be 
attracted ;  but  it  certainly  seemed  remarkable  that  Hugh  Gilford 
was  not.  So  much  so,  in  truth,  to  Luke  himself,  that  he  lost  all 
sense  of  jealousy,  knowing  as  he  did  that  the  pair  were  much  to 
gether,  when  he  thought  of  it. 

Two  beings  could  scarcely  have  been  more  opposite  than  the 
southern  girl  and  the  young  New  Euglander.  He  was  slight, 
not  tall,  but  deep-chested  and  strongly  built,  with  short,  light 
hair,  tending  to  curl,  Saxon-looking  eyes  and  complexion,  and  a 
rather  firmly  set  mouth  and  chin.  He  presented  few,  if  any.  of 
the  national  traits,  which  require,  as  a  rule,  more  than  one  gener 
ation  to  bring  forth,  and  his  speech  had  none  of  the  twang  com 
mon  in  his  section.  This  deficiency,  by  no  means  regarded  as 
meet  for  congratulation,  was  imputed  by  Dick  Railes.  Jabe  Fitch, 
and  their  fellows,  to  what  they  termed  utoo  much  scholarin'.  " 

If  there  had  been  nothing  approaching  to  flirtation,  however, 
bet^  een  these  young  people,  there  grew  up  a  great  deal  of 
friendly  and  sympathetic  intercourse;  and  although  the  news 
of  Hugh's  engagement  might  have  been  unwelcome  to  her, 
there  was  nothing  in  Mary  Anne's  subsequent  manner  which 
could  be  perceptibly  traced  to  such  a  feeling.  She  was  not 
quite  as  ready  afterwards,  perhaps,  to  speak  of  her  own  child 
hood,  albeit  she  had  promised  to  do  so  in  the  way  of  reciprocity 
when  Hugh  had  described  his  own ;  but  she  would  not  break 
her  word,  and,  after  being  once  or  twice  reminded,  she  pro 
ceeded  to  fulfil  it. 

••My  story  is  very  brief,"  she  said,  "and  has  little,  I  fear,  to 


40  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

interest,  because,  until  within  the  twelvemonth-  passed,  it  has 
contained  so  little  of  pain.  The  first  sights  I  can  remember  are 
those  of  warm  colors,  loving  faces,  and  rich  scenery,  of  boun- 
teousness  and  affluence  both  within  and  without.  The  first 
sounds  are  those  of  voices  melodious  with  affection,  of  brilliant 
music  tastefully  played,  of  the  songs  of  birds,  and  the  pleasant 
murmurs  of  brooks  which  ran  through  our  plantation  to  swell  the 
Mississippi.  The  first  odors  are  those  of  roses,  of  orange- 
blossoms,  and  magnolias.  Those  were  dear  days,  and  I  was 
very — very  happy." 

"How  can  you  be  drawn  toward  our  bleak,  sterile  New  Eng 
land,  if  your  happiness  sprang  from  associations  such  as  these?" 

"These  are  mere  gratifications  of  the  senses,  are  they  not? 
They  may  be  pleasant  in  reminding  us  of  those  we  loved,  who 
were  with  us  when  surrounded  by  them.  New  England  I  have 
honored  for  something  which,  with  all  its  blessings  and  delights, 
was  not  to  be  found  in  my  early  home.  As  a  child  I  did  not 
miss  it,  and  these  sights,  and  sounds,  and  odors,  are  always 
with  me  when  I  think  of  those  who  were  inexpressibly  dear. 
My  father  almost  idolized  -me.  There  was  nothing  that  money 
could  buy,  nothing  that  anxious  affection  could  desire,  which  was 
wanting  to  minister  to  my  health,  my  enjoyments,  my  educa 
tion."  ' 

"Ah,  you  had  always  wealth,  then?"  said  Hugh,  thoughtfully. 

"Always.  I  thought  to  be  very  unhappy  now,  but  one  of  the 
comforts — the  consolations — seems  to  me  to  be  without  it." 

The  young  man  shook  his  head  incredulously. 

"It  is  quite  natural  you  should  not  think  so ;  perhaps  you  may 
hereafter.  We  had  a  plantation  near  the  great  river,  and  here 
we  passed  the  summers ; — summers  full  of  light  and  joy ;  with 
pleasant  friends  and  choicest  books ;  with  charming  drives  and 
lovely  views.  There  could  not  well  be  a  happier  life  than  mine 
was  then,  and  I  remember  my  fondest  wish  was  that  it  should 
remain  so  always.  I  was  not  sent  to  school  like  the  daughters 
of  neighboring  planters,  so  I  did  not  see  many  of  them ;  and,  in 
deed,  most  of  our  friends  came  from  a  distance ;  but  I  had  pri 
vate  teachers,  for  my  father  washed  me  to  be  accomplished,  and 
would  spare  neither  money  nor  pains  to  that  end.  In  the  winters 
we  went  to  New  Orleans,  my  father  and  a  sister  of  his,  to  whom 
we  were  both  much  attached,  and  I.  We  always  took  the  same 
servants,  and  our  house  was  always  ready  for  us  in  town.  There 
we  had  the  opera — I  was  passionately  fond  of  the  opera,  and 
races,  and  parties,  and  sometimes  balls,  though  my  father  was 
particular  where  I  went,  and  on  such  occasions  insisted  on  his 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  41 

sister  as  well  as  himself  being  one  of  the  party.  This,  of  course, 
was  when  I  grew  up— I  mean  five  years  ago — I  am  one-and- 
twenty  now." 

"These  people  we  are  with  must  be  strangely  offensive — I 
mean  very  distasteful  to  you." 

"No;  they  are  very  good  and  kind.  It  is  not  their  fault  that 
they  have  never  been  in  society,  or  spent  money  on  accomplish 
ments,  or  learned  to  speak  quite  correctly.  They  are  a  little 
brusque  sometimes,  but  I  know  they  mean  no  harm,  and  so  it 
does  not  give  me  pain.  I  have  been  used  to  ignorant  people 
with  good  hearts  all  my  life,  and  never  learned  to  despise  them. 
Besides,  they  have  given  me  a  sanctuary — a  refuge " 

"A  refuge?" 

"Yes;  I  shall  come  to  that  soon.  As  I  have  said,  I  was  very 
happy.  My  teachers  were  carefully  selected,  and  I  had  none  of 
the  misfortunes  in  the  shape  of  malignant  or  ill-taught  nurses  or 
others  having  control  of  my  infancy,  which,  as  I  have  read,  often 
warp  the  nature  of  children,  and  inflict  irreparable  injury.  I  had 
a  happy  childhood,  and  the  best  of  fathers." 

"And  your  mother?" 

A  flush  came  up  into  the  giiTs  face,  but  the  camp  fire  was  not 
bright  enough  at  the  moment  for  Hugh  Giffbrd  to  see  it. 

"I  never  remember  seeing  her;  she  died  when  I  was  very — 
very  young,  and  those  about  me  never  spoke  of  her." 

"She  died  abroad,  perhaps?" 

"No,  not  abroad;  but  it  was  long  after  her  death  before  I  was 
old  enough  to  understand  such  things,  and  by  that  time  those 
about  me  had,  I  suppose,  forgotten  it." 

"And  your  father — did  he  never  speak  of  her?" 

"Sometimes,  when  we  were  alone  together;  but  I  had  rather 
not  speak  more  of  her  just  now,  please." 

"Pray  forgive  me  ;  had  I  thought  the  subject  was  painful — " 

"No,  no $  it  is  not,  at  least  it  should  not  be.  Besides,  I  have 
no  right  to  reserve  my  confidence  after  you  have  given  me 
yours." 

' '  Nay.  I  exact  no  such  literal  recompense.  I  questioned  be 
cause  I  surmised  that  your  own,  like  my  dear  mother,  might  have 
been  unhappy." 

"  Alas,  I  fear  she  was,  very,  very  unhappy." 

"  But  let  us  speak  no  more  of  that ;  go  on  about  yourself." 

"  You  will  understand  that  life  was  so  blight  and  beautiful  all 
around  me,  that  my  thoughts  never  dwelt  upon  things  that  were 
sad.  You  have  seen  song-birds  carolling  and  frolicking  among 
the  flowers  when  everything  about  them  is  bathed  in  warm, 


42  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

genial  sunshine  when  their  needs  and  their  pleasures  are  lavishly 
supplied  without  labor  or  care;  when  their  thoughts  are  farthest 
from  the  damp,  dusky  night,  and  they  make  no  provision  for 
the  pinching  winter?  The  night  must  come  in  its  due  course, 
the  winter  must  be  felt  in  its  season,  but  they,  the  gay  and 
thoughtless  ones,  have  no  heed  for  the  one  or  the  other.  So  was 
it  with  me  through  all  my  early  life.  My  father's  care  prepared 
me  for  everything  except  to  meet  adversity." 

"  He  hoped  to  shield  you  always  from  it." 

"Doubtless ;  and  for  me,  I  never  dreamed  that  such  hopes  are 
never  realized.  Perhaps,  too,  his  views  had  more  than  usually 
exists  to  justify  them.  We  were  rich ;  and  it  was  probable  that  we 
should  always  so  remain." 

"  There  was  much  to  warrant  hope  in  that." 

"Ah,  you  think  so  much  of  money;  and  yet,  after  all,  what 
did  it  do  for  me  ?" 

"Everything,  I  should  say,  from  your  story  so  far,  or  next  to 
everything.  Does  not  all  the  happiness  which  surrounded  you, 
the  luxury  which  lapped  your  childhood,  the  pleasures  which 
gilded  your  youth,  the  travel  which  enlarged,  the  tuition  which 
instructed  your  understanding,  did  not  these  all  depend  upon  the 
possession  of  wealth  ?" 

"  They  did ;  and  yet  perchance  I  had  been  happier  if  the  wealth 
had  never  been — if  I  had  been  bora  as  poor  as  I  now  am,  and  am 
likely  to  be  for  the  future." 

Hugh  looked  at  her  with  his  incredulous  smile.  "How  easy 
it  is  to  talk  of  the  nothingness  of  riches,  of  the  luxury  of  honest 
poverty !  How  much  we  hear  of  it  in  our  pulpits ;  how  much 
we  read  of  it  in  our  newspapers !  Turn  where  we  will,  we  are 
confronted  with  endless  babble  of  the  dignity  of  labor,  of  honest 
toil,  of  hard-handed  industry !  And  what  is  the  sum  and  sub 
stance  of  all  ?  A  bubble — a  most  illusory,  transparent,  and  empty 
bubble !  Why,  the  preachers  and  the  scribblers  who  teach  this 
doctrine  are  the  most  grasping  and  avaricious  of  all !  What  do 
they  care  for,  think  of,  pray  for,  whether  rising,  sitting,  walking, 
or  sleeping  ?  Gold !  — golcl — nothing  but  gold ! ' ' 

"Gold,"  murmured  Ike,  as  he  lay  half  asleep,  his  red  head 
pillowed  as  usual  on  Lion's  curly  back;  "Gold,"  he  repeated, 
"they're  all  arter  it!  Hoosier  from  the  backwoods,  pedlar  from 
the  town,  chaps  from  Old  England,  chaps  from  New  England, 
farmer  to  buy  new  steers,  farmer's  wife  to  buy  new  chiny.  All 
artcr  the  gold! — nothing  but  gold!" 

"And  yet,"  said  Mary  Anne,  gently,  "and  yet  it  brought  me 
the  first  suffering  of  my  life,  it  brought  me  its  greatest  crisis  of 


THE   QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  43 

danger  and  pain ;  and  when  I  pray,  it  is  always  that  wealth,  or 
the  love  of  it,  may  not  make  my  life  for  the  future  altogether 
wretched." 

"Riddles,"  said  Hugh,  ''or  fantasies.  The  gold  is  ieal,  tan 
gible,  solid." 

"Solid  gold,"  echoed  the  half-wit;  "Ike  knows  where  'tis; 
acres  of  it,  oceans  of  it,  mountains  of  it!  But  he  won't  tell;  oh, 
no !  'Twoukl  kind  o'  hurt  ye  and  set  ye  back  to  git  too  rich 
all  in  a  minute  I  So  we'll  keep  it  for  ourselves.  Lion  and  me — Lion 
and  me."  He  smoothed  and  patted  the  dog's  head  as  if  sealing 
the  compact,  and  Lion  looked  at  his  master  with  a  wise,  trustful 
acquiescence  in  his  watchful  eyes,  as  Ike  turned  heavily  over  and 
fell  asleep  again. 

•  •  Xot  riddles — not  fantasies, "  continued  Mary  Anne,  ' ' but  hard, 
pitiless,  realities.  It  was  because  we  were  rich,  and  because  the 
fame  of  it  went  abroad,  that  the  first  bitter  hours  I  had  ever  known 
came  upon  me.  When  I  was  eighteen,  there  came  on  a  visit  to 
our  country  home  a  gentleman  we  had  met  the  winter  before  in 
New  Orlea'ns.  He  was  young,  rich,  gifted,  it  was  said,  and  be 
longed  to  one  of  the  proudest  families  in  Louisiana.  My  father 
liked  him  much,  and  rather  courted  his  society;  urged  him, 
indeed,  to  pay  us  this  visit  with  an  object  that  I  only  afterwards 
divined.  That  object  you  can  readily  guess." 

"  He  wished  him  to  become  your  suitor?" 

"He  did;  and  in  truth  there  was  much  about  him  to  at 
tract  any  woman,  especially  one  so  young  and  inexperienced  as 
I  was.  My  father  was  wise,  too ;  he  imposed  upon  me  no  com 
mand,  scarce  even  a  wish,  but  I  could  not  help  seeing  that  it  was 
agreeable  to  him  that  Mr.  Du  Solle  and  I  should  be  much 
together — riding,  walking,  playing,  the  various  pursuits  and 
amusements  of  a  country  life." 

"Mr.  Du  Solle  was  handsome  ?" 

" He  was  thought  so ;  to  me  he  always  seemed  too  dark;  he 
had  a  Spanish  face  with  glittering  teeth;  handsome  when  he 
smiled,  but  forbidding  and  harsh  if  he  frowned.  He  was  agree 
able  enough,  however,  and  evidently  took  pains  to  make  himself 
liked.  Still,  I  felt  sure  from  the  moment  I  saw  his  and  my 
father's  aim,  I  felt  sure  that  I  could  never  love  him,  and  I  think 
he  knew  it  too.  But  matters  went  on,  as  they  will  in  such  cases, 
and  it  came  to  be  generally  bruited  about  the  neighborhood  that 
we  were  engaged.  I  often  reproach  myself  with  this  now.  I  was 
cowardly ;  had  I  faced  my  father's  anger  and  his  indignation,  had 
I  told  him  betimes  that  I  could  never  love  that  man,  the  terrible 
consequences  might  have  been  spared. " 


44  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"Terrible?" 

"Most  terrible, as  you  will  hear.  The  time  came  at  last  when 
Mr.  Du  Solle  declared  himself.  He  asked  me  to  become  his 
wife.  I  was  forced  to  be  candid  then,  and  I  told  him  the  truth. 
He  pleaded,  remonstrated,  wept.  I  would  change,  perhaps. 
I  felt  certain  that  I  never  should,  but  was  touched  by  the  evident 
sincerity  of  his  feelings.  He  acknowledged  that  the  reputation 
of  my  father's  great  wealth  had  at  first  attracted  him,  but  pro 
tested  that  he  now  loved  me  for  myself  alone.  Alas !  for  man's 
duplicity  and  falsehood — I  believed  him.  I  could  not  promise 
to  love  him,  but  I  yielded  to  his  passionate  entreaty,  and  agreed 
to  delay  a  week  before  giving  him  a  final  dismissal. 

"In  that  week  he  made  a  horrible  discovery.  By  what  means 
I  knew  not  then — know  not  even  now.  I  did  not  even  know 
the  nature  of  the  discovery  itself,  so  religiously  had  the  truth 
been  kept  from  me,  until  another  event  more  awful  still  had  oc 
curred  as  its  consequence.  One  day — the  third  after  our  inter 
view — I  had  been  riding,  attended  only  by  a  negro  servant,  for 
it  had 'been  agreed  Mr.  Du  Solle  was  not  to  be  my  escort  during 
the  week  of  probation.  I  alighted  at  the  portico  fronting  the 
main  hall  of  the  house,  when,  with  a  face  like  midnight,  he  sud 
denly  confronted  me. 

" '  So !'  he  hissed,  rather  than  said,  '  so  you  are  a  party — you, 
with  your  amiable  father — to  this  exquisite  conspiracy!' 

"'Sir,'  I  stammered,  outraged  and  astonished,  'what  con 
spiracy  mean  you — how  dare  you  ?' 

"  'Oh,  spare  your  pretended  amazement,'  he  cried,  furious  with 
anger.  '  It  is  likely  that  eighteen  years  should  pass,  and  you, 
forsooth,  be  still  in  ignorance.' 

' '  He  went  on  for  some  moments  pouring  forth  heated  abuse  of 
which  I  cannot  now  remember  a  word,  but  which  redoubled  my 
agitation  and  surprise. 

" '  Sir,'  I  gasped  at  last,  'this  is  incredible,  infamous.  Let  me 
pass ;  let  me  go  to  my  father ! ' 

" 'Your  father!'  shouted  Du  Solle,  'your  father!  Infamous, 
dishonored  as  he  is.  Let  him  come  to  me  !  let  him  answer  for 
his  attempt  to  disgrace  me !  The  villain !  To  seek  to  entrap 
me,  unawares ;  to  link  my  name,  my  blood,  with  the  daughter  of 
his ' 

"I  heard  no  more,  and  no  more  was  said,  for  my  father  vras 
by  my  side.  He  struck  Du  Solle  with  dreadful  rapidity  several 
heavy  blows  with  his  fists,  and  then  kicked  him  down  the  steps 
under  my  horse's  feet.  What  followed  I  know  not,  for  I  fainted. 

"Let  mo  make  as  brief  as  may  be  the  horrible  sequel.     They 


THE   QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  45 

fought  the  next  day — a  protracted  and  barbarous  duel — and  my 
father  was  brought  home  a  corpse. 

'•Even  while  I  was  yet  in  my  agony  over  this  cold  clay,  my 
nurse,  a  mulatto  woman,  who  dearly  loved  me  from  my  birth, 
poured  into  my  terror-stricken  ears  the  secret  whose  disclosure 
had  led  to  this  catastrophe.  She  showed  .me  ample  proofs  of 
what  she  would  never,  never  have  revealed,  as  with  bitter  tears 
and  lamentations  she  explained,  but  for  a  circumstance  which 
made  such  a  step  inevitable.  J/y  j  at  her  had  left  no  icill.  His 
relatives  were  coming  in  haste  to  claim  the  estate ;  and  hear  it, 

0  GOD  of  Heaven !  so  far  from  inheriting  my  father's  wealth  I 
must  fly,  fly,  if  I  would  not,  by  remaining,  add  to  its  sum  in  my 
own  unhappy  person. 

"I  did  fly.  with  speed,  with  secresy,  and  at  night.  I  had  help 
at  first,  for  every  hand  on  the  plantation  would  have  aided  me ; 
but  after  leaving  it  there  were  two  days  and  a  half  of  travel 
before  reaching  St.  Louis,  and  I  was  in  constant  dread  of  the 
telegraph.  However,  I  got  to  St.  Louis  in  safety. 

"Thus  you  see  that,  in  my  case  at  least,  wealth  was  not  alto 
gether  a  blessing,  since  it  had  wrought  me  the  greatest  possible 
curse,  the  most  irreparable  affliction.  You  see,  too,  that  how 
ever  they  may  appear  so,  the  motives  are  not  all  alike  that  impel 
us  to  this  Western  pilgrimage ;  for  you  go  for  the  sake  of  Gold, 

1  for  Liberty!" 


CHAPTER  V. 

OUR  travellers  had  crossed  the  great  chain  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  upon  a  line  between  what  is  now  known  as  Pike's  Peak 
and  the  pass  called  by  the  early  Spanish  explorers  Sangre  de 
Christo.  The  little  stream  whereon  they  had  encamped  was  in 
fact  one  of  the  mountain  sources  of  the  Rio  Grande  del  Norte, 
a  river  which,  although  it  has  its  rise  westward  of  the  great 
chain,  finds  its  way  through  the  pass  bearing  the  same  name 
with  itself,  and  ultimately  flows  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  form 
ing  the  boundary  between  the  latter  country  and  Texas.  The 
next  water  they  would  cross  in  their  progress  westward  would 
doubtless  be  an  affluent  of  the  Colorado,  which  empties  into 
the  Gulf  of  California,  and  the  party  could  then  fairly  consider 
itself  on  the  Pacific  slope. 


46  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

The  general  aim  had  been  to  make  a  course  as  near  due 
west  as  possible,  and  their  present  latitude  differed  but  little 
from  that  of  St.  Louis,  their  point  of  departure.  In  this  policy 
Seth  Armstrong  had  been  materially  aided  by  the  observations 
of  Dr.  Landalc,  who,  notwithstanding  tho  scarce  concealed  con 
tempt  of  Dick  Railes,  was  constant  in  determining  their  daily 
position  by  means  of  his  instruments.  The  fact  that  Indians 
and  trappers  could  find  their  way  without  such  assistance 
seemed  to  the  backwoodsman  quite  conclusive  evidence  against 
its  utility,  but  as  he  could  make  converts  of  neither  the  Doctor 
nor  Seth  Armstrong,  his  conservative  objections  to  science  were 
unheeded.  His  daily  jest  that  "the  Doctor  was  goin'  to  shoot 
the  sun  agin,"  had  little  effect,  therefore,  save  upon  the  sympa 
thizing  intelligence  of  Nahum  Pelter,  who,  whenever  he  heard, 
received  it  as  a  criticism  of  the  first  water  and  pungency. 
Whereupon  Luke,  whose  nature  it  was  to  try,  as  he  said,  to 
"make  things  run  easy,"  would  observe  deprecatingly  that 
"  Dick  was  a  stubborn  cuss  about  the  th'odolite." 

"  Humph,"  grunted  the  Doctor.  "  All  ignorance  is  stubborn, 
I  take  it.  If  Master  Railes  were  made  to  go  through  the  first 
four  books  of  Euclid — if  he  once  got  an  idea  that  the  circle 
means  anything  beyond  the  shape  of  the  sun  or  the  end  of  his 
powder-horn,  he'd  be  pliable  enough." 

"  He  don't  like  book  learnin',  he'd  never  take  to  it." 

"  Of  course  not ;  so  for  him  a  theodolite  will  be  a  gimcrack, 
and  a  sextant  will  be  shooting  the  sun  till  the  end  of  the  chapter." 

"Well,  I  don't  s'pose  common  folks  know  much  more  in  the 
old  country  than  they  know  here." 

"  Except  to  hold  their  tongues — less  about  most  things  else. 
And  then-  betters  are  not  always  so  very  wise  either.  There  are 
plenty  in  England  as  stupid  as  your  people  here,  who  think  when 
there's  a  famine  over  sea  which  comes  of  too  many  mouths,  or 
poor  crops,  or  laziness,  or  all  three,  that  it's  all  the  fault  of  that 
rotten  old  monarchy  and  the  wicked  aristocracy.  _  There  are 
plenty  there  wholl  swear  by-and-by,  when  you  get  into  trouble 
from  slavery  and  too  many  voting  immigrants,  that  it's  all  the 
fault  of  your  republican  institutions — institutions  which,  in  nine 
essentials  out  of  ten,  are  precisely  the  same  as  their  own.  We're 
all  shooting  the  sun  to  people  who  don't  know  what  we're 
doing." 

"Yes,"  argued  poor  Luke,  somewhat  bewildered,  "but  we 
try  to  remedy  that  by  spreading  education  so's  to  teach  folks  to 
know  what  you're  doing." 

"Ay,  there's  good  in  what  you  do — some  good.     But  there's 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  *« 

a  deal  of  harm,  too.  It  doesn't  do  a  republican  boy  any  good 
in  the  long  run  to  cram  him  with  lies  about  monarchies,  or  vice 
vena;  only  the  world  isn't  wise  enough  yet  to  find  it  out.'' 

11 1  expect  ourn's  about  the  best  system  there  is  goin',"  said 
Luke,  taking  refuge  in  the  most  current  generality  he  could 
think  of. 

"  No  doubt  it  is  for  you,  and  it's  lucky  you  think  so." 

Such  a  concession  was  quite  satisfactory  to  Luke,  who  would  go 
on  his  way  rejoicing.  The  Doctor,  however,  was  more  waiy  in 
being  entrapped  into  discussion  with  such  stern  patriots  as  Dick 
Railes  or  Nahum  Pelter,  to  whom  his  blunt  tenets  were  not  short 
of  flat  blasphemy,  to  be  argued  to  the  death  in  all  the  stump 
eloquence  they  had  ever  heard  of  or  could  master.  Still  the 
little  circle  had  become  attached  and  harmonious  with  the 
cement  of  then'  common  cares  and  hopes ;  and  perhaps  there 
were  none  but  would  separate  from  each  of  the  others  with 
regret. 

The  morning  after  the  halt  broke  bright  and  clear,  although 
the  sun  was  tardy  in  showing  himself  above  the  steeps  behind 
them.  Long  before  he  did  so  the  camp  was  a  scene  of  bustling 
activity ;  for,  although  the  halt  was  nominally  for  rest  and  re 
freshment,  there  was  much  to  do  in  the  way  of  comfort  and 
cleanliness,  which  for  the  past  few  weeks  had  been  perforce 
neglected.  Thus,  Castle  Armstrong  was  to  be  cleared  out,  the 
remaining  packages  of  provisions  to  be  overhauled  and  aired, 
clothes  to  be  washed,  rifles  and  other  arms  to  be  cleaned,  and  a 
score  of  minor  needs  and  duties  to  be  attended  to  during  the 
respite  from  the  march.  Half  the  small  stores  originally  stowed 
in  the  provision  wagon  had  now  been  consumed,  and  yet  when 
those  which  were  left  came  to  be  spread  about  the  ground  during 
the  process  of  scrubbing,  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  impossible  to  get 
them  in  again.  But  Mrs.  Armstrong  was  the  possessor  of  mar 
vellous  ingenuity,  and,  had  her  spouse  permitted  her  to  bring  all 
she  wished  with  the  expedition — double  the  quantity  really 
brought — no  doubt  she  would  have  managed  to  pack  it  in  the 
wagons. 

"There  was  that  'ere  Ike,"  she  complained  mournfully  to 
Kitty,  as  she  rigorously  supervised  the  hidden  operations  of 
Bridget,  in  the  wagon,  whence  issued  profusion  of  steam  and 
soapsuds.  "  There  was  that  'ere  Ike,  and  that  big  heathen.  Lion, 
— father  would  bring  them,  and  yet  he'd  leave  behind  a'most  all 
my  chiny.  Not  but  that  the  poor  critter's  well  enough,  and 
done  chores  round  the  form  ever  since  he  was  a  little  tow-headed 
boy,  and  allus  earned  his  salt,  if  he  is  silly,  poor  thing ;  and 


48  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

p'raps  he  wouldn't  a  taken  to  other  folks  after  all  these  years,  or 
they  might  a  been  harsh  with  him  ;  but  that  'ere  pesky  Lion — 
why,  he'll  eat  more  meat  in  a  day  than  I  kin  in  a  week  !" 

"But,  mother  clear,  you  know  Lion  lives  entirely  on  the  scraps 
and  bones  nobody  else  can  touch  ;  and  he's  a  great  protection  to 
the  camp ;  and  he  pulled  me  out  of  the  water  once,  when  my  hoop 
went  flyin'  over  the  bank,  and  I  went  flyin'  after  it ;  and  you 
know,  mother,  poor  Ike  never  could  git  along  without  Lion." 

"  I  know,  I  know,"  admitted  Mrs.  Armstrong,  melting  quite 
visibly,  "but  I  might  a  had  my  chiny !" 

"And  you  know,  mother,  the  chiny  could' nt  have  walked, 
or  ridden  a  horse,  or  taken  care  of  itself  like  Ike  or  Lion  I" 

"  No,  nor  Ike  and  Lion  would'nt  a  sold  in  Californy  for  more'n 
ten  times  what  they  cost  down  to  Xenia." 

"  And  did  brave  Lion  really  save  your  life  ?"  asked  Mary  Anne, 
with  interest. 

"  I  don't  know  that  I  can  quite  say  that,"  answered  Kitty,  in 
genuously,  "  for  it  might  be  I  shouldn't  have  been  drowned  with 
out  him.  All  I  knew  was,that  I  went  plump  into  the  river  where  it 
was  very  deep,  and  I  went  down- — down  ever  so  far,  until  I  was 
quite  sure  I  should  never  come  up  again.  Then  all  at  once  I 
seemed  to  touch  bottom,  it  was  all  soil  and  oozy ;  and  I  thought 
for  a  little  I'd  like  to  stay  there,  and  stay  I  might  for  all  I  could 
help  myself.  Then  I  thought  I  ought  to  try  and  cry  out,  and  I 
did  try,  but  there  seemed  to  be  no  noise — only  a  bubbling — and 
I  felt  I  must  die,  for  all  my  breath  was  gone.  Just  then  a  great 
black  thing  came  bump,  bump,  against  me,  for  I  could  see  a  little 
in  the  water — the  difference  between  dark  and  light,  anyhow — 
and  I  felt  myself  bein'  dragged  up,  up,  just  as  fast  as  before  I 
went  down,  and  we  came  up  to  the  top  of  the  water  with  a  great 
jump,  and  I  saw  the  green  trees  and  the  blue  sky,  and  Ike,  Avith 
his  red  hair  all  on  end,  standin'  close  by  in  a  punt,  and  Lion  with 
his  great  head  next  to  mine,  and  then  I  fainted." 

"  Then  he  really  did  save  you1?" 

"  He  ought  to  have  the  credit  of  it,  anyhoAv ;  only  as  Ike  was 
close  to  us  in  a  hay-field,  and  came  right  off  when  he  heard  the 
splash,  and  would  have  saved  me,  I  take  it,  anyhow,  I  like  to 
think  they  both  had  a  hand  in  it." 

"Poor  Ichabod  is  clear- witted  enough  sometimes." 

"  Bless  you,  yes ;  about  most  everything,  'cept  believin'  he's 
so  dreadful  rich,  you  know.  Pie  always  thought  that  long  before 
we  set  out  to  go  to  California." 

"And  you  could  trust  him — that  is,  with  the  house ;  for  exam 
ple,  should  you  wish  to  go  abroad  ?" 


THE   QUEST   FOE   FOETrST..  49 

"  Oh,  yes ;  and  be  safer  than  with  some,  for  he'd  neither  pilfer 
nor  yet  drink  whiskey.  Jest  look  at  him  now.  He's  got  Lion 
for  a  romp  in  the  river ;  but  he  knows  we're  usin'  it.  so  you  see 
he  goes  down  stream.  I  b'lievc  Lion  knows  enough  for  that,  as 
well  as  Ike,  and  there's  many  a  Christian  would  know  less." 

During  this  little  colloquy  the  two  young  women  had,  uncon 
sciously,  been  serving  as  a  target  for  the  admiring  glances  of 
Luke  Armstrong  and  Dick  Railes,  the  former  being  absorbed  in 
the  contemplation  of  Mary  x\nne,  and  the  latter  no  less  interested 
in  the  animated  Kitty.  Dick  was  cleaning  his  rifle,  or  pretend 
ing  to  do  so,  and  Luke  performing  the  like  office  for  a  fowling- 
piece.  Their  attention,  however,  was  suddenly  distracted,  as 
Kitty  concluded  her  eulogy,  by  a  quick  exclamation  from  her 
companion,  promptly  repeated  by  the  speaker. 

"Why!"  cried  Kitty.  "what's  the  matter  with  the  dog?" 

Lion  had  been  actively  engaged  in  bringing  out  sticks  and  other 
missiles,  which  Ike  would  cast  for  him  into  the  water :  but  he 
had  hastily  loosed  his  hold  of  a  huge  branch  he  had  been  striving 
to  drag  from  the  bottom,  and  sprung  up  the  bank  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  stream.  The  dog  was  large — too  large  and  too  long- 
limited  to  be  a  Newfoundland,  although  he  was  popularly  reputed 
to  be  of  that  breed ;  and,  as  his  huge  fuamestood  out  against  the 
sky,  he  looked  of  even  gigantic  proportions. 

"Lion!"  called  Ike  from  his  side  of  the  stream.  "  "What's  got 
into  the  critter?  Here.  Lion,  Lion!" 

The  dog  did  not  turn,  but,  keeping  his  nose  toward  the  moun 
tains,  gave  a  long,  low  whine. 

"He's  pintin'  at  something!"  exclaimed  Luke. 

"It's  a  bar!"  said  Dick  Railes,  quietly  loading  his  rifle. 

"Ye  don't  s'prose  there  can  be  Injuns 'round,  arter  all?"  asked 
Seth,  in  an  undertone,  as  he  came  up  anxiously. 

"I  don't  b'lieve  it;  unless  they  might  be  a  few  scatterin' 
Utahs,  and  they  wouldn't  attack  so  many  as  we  be." 

"Dear  me,  lather!"  cried  Mrs.  Armstrong,  looking  with  dis 
may  on  her  scattered  treasures,  "if  the  savages  come  now,  what 
will  become  of  all  the  tea  and  sugar?" 

"Don't  be  afeard,  ma'am,"  said  Dick;  "the  red  skins  don't 
kear  a  pine  shavin'  for  them  doin's ;  whiskey,  and  'backy,  and 
scalps,  is  what  they  travel  fur!" 

"Father!"  questioned  Kitty,  fearfully,  "do  you  see  how  Lion 
keeps  on?  What  do  you  think*  s  the  trouble  with  him  ?*' 

"Why,  nothin',  Kitty,  nothin',"  replied  Seth,  cheerily;  "least 
ways  nothin'  to  hurt.  An  antelope,  p'raps,  in  the  cover  yonder, 
3 


50  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

or  a  coyote*  in  the  brush  on  the  hillside,  or  a  little  brown  bar, 
maybe  ;  but  sartin  nothm'  to  hurt." 

Kitty  looked  pale,  and  mother,  little  reassured,  made  for  the 
Castle,  to  hurry  her  handmaid,  Bridget,  who  was  peering  open- 
mouthed  from  the  wagon,  and  telling  Mary  Anne,  who,  with  a 
quick  presentiment,  had  made  her  way  inside  to  help  in  a  swift 
repacking:  "Shure  the  baste  was  goin'  on  as  if  he  had  the  divil 
(savin'  your  presence)  foreninst  him." 

"Yc'd  better  git  your  shootin'  irons  ready,  boys,"  said  Na- 
hum  Pelter,  coming  up  and  joining  the  group  who  were  dis 
cussing  ;  "  it  mought  be  a  grizzly,  ye  know,  and  I'll  allow  them 
bars  is  dreadful  cantankerous  if  they're  hungry  and  git  riled." 

"If  it  prove  to  be  Indians "  began  the  doctor. 

"Injuns!"  laughed  the  frontiersman  derisively;  "ye  won't 
ketch  no  Injuns  comin'  down  on  ye  in  a  bee*  line  with  the  wind, 
so  that  a  dog  with  a  dull  nose  like  that  kin  tell  ye  on't  a  week 
beforehand.  No  ;  if  it  ain't  game,  nor  yit  no  wild  critter,  it'll 
be  more  white  folks  travcllin.'  like  ourselves." 

"Anyhow,"  said  Luke  Armstrong,  "man  or  beast,  we'd  best 
be  ready  for  'cm.  Forewarned  is  forearmed,  they  say,  and 
p'raps  we  owe  Lion  another  good  turn." 

"Ay,  ay,"  echoed  the  rest;  "loadup's  the  best  word  now, 
and  find  out  what' sin  the  wind  arterwards." 

Most  of  the  party  had  taken  advantage  of  the  halt  to  clean 
or  otherwise  overhaul  their  firearms,  so  that  they  were  now  in 
good  condition  for  service.  For  the  next  few  moments  little 
was  heard  but  the  snap  of  locks  and  rattle  of  ramrods  thrusting 
home  the  bullets. 

"  Better  git  the  women-folks  all  into  the  wagon,  Luke,"  said 
Seth,  breaking  the  silence.  "  Two  or  three  on  ye,  git  the  cat 
tle  into  the  corral  Fust  thing  we  know  there'll  be  a  stampede, 
maybe.  Stop  the  dog's  whinnyin',  can't  ye,  Ike?"  he  contin 
ued,  calling,  though  in  a  suppressed  voice,  to  the  latter. 

Ike  turned,  and,  without  speaking,  signed  that  the  dog  had 
made  some  discovery  on  the  further  side  of  the  creek. 

"  Yes,  yes,  we  know  ;  .but  fetch  him  in  ;  he  can't  tell  us  no 
more,  and  as  like's  not  '11  pint  us  out  to  some  one  who  don't  yit 
know  where  we  are." 

The  dog  still  stood  on  the  rise  of  the  bank,  looming  against 
the  sky,  and  had  repeated  at  intervals  his  warning  whine.  All 
at  once  he  changed  this  note,  however,  and  gave  vent  to  a 
hoarse,  threatening  growl. 

*  The  wild  dog  or  wolf  of  the  prairies. 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  51 

"Fetch  him  in,  Ike,  fetch  him  in,  quick,  can't  ye?"  cried 
Luke,  impatiently. 

"Ye'd  better,''  said  Nahum  Pelt  er,  ominously,  "or  maybe 
the  stranger  '11  git  acquainted  with  him  in  a  way  ye  won't  like." 

"  What  on  airth  is  it,  father?"'  queried  Mrs.  Armstrong,  ner 
vously,  from  her  Castle.  "Tell  us  the  wust,  whatever  it  is,  and 
we'll  stand  by  to  help." 

"  We  hain't  seen  ne'er  a  hide  nor  a  hair,"  answered  her  hus 
band  ;  "but  you  can  stand  by,  of  course,  if  it's  any  comfort  to  ye. 
The  two  pieces  are  locked  in  the  box  that  fits  under  my  berth, 
and  the  bullets  and  powder,  and  the  key  is  hangiii'  on  a  nail  to 
the  left  hand  side  o1  the  winder ;  only  load  kearful,  and  don't  use 
too  much  powder." 

It  had  been  agreed  that,  in  the  event  of  attack,  the  females 
should  form  a  sort  of  reserve,  loading  weapons  for  the  others,  or 
using  those  in  the  wagon,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  emer 
gency.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan  they  had  undergone  not  a 
little  preliminary  practice,  and  were  considered  by  the  men  at  all 
events  fit  to  be  trusted  with  arms,  however  they  might  use  them 
to  advantage  in  a  moment  of  peril.  "That  gal,  Mary  Anne," 
said  the  experienced  Pelter,  when  revolving  this  scheme  with 
the  others,  "that  gal,  Mary  Anne,  :11  stand  fire  ;  but  whether  the 
old  woman  and  her  darter  will,  ye  can't  tell  till  ye  see  'em  tried." 

While  the  various  preparations  were  progressing,  Ichabod  had 
been  striving  to  induce  the  excited  Lion  to  descend  from  his 
coigne  of  vantage,  and  return  to  his  side ;  but  the  dog  only  re 
plied  to  these  requests  by  a  deprecating  shake  of  his  tail,  as  if  to 
say  that  Ike  in  his  position  was  incapable  of  forming  a  just  esti 
mate  of  the  exigencies  of  the  case,  and  kept  his  ground.  Now 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Ike  had  greater  confidence  in  Lion's  sa 
gacity  than  he  had  in  that  of  any  other  individual  of  the  party ; 
he  would  unhesitatingly  have  deferred  to  his  judgment  in  any 
affair  wherein  conflicting  evidence  brought  about  a  diversity  of 
opinions ;  but  the  gestures  and  exhortations  of  the  party  grew 
many  and  wrathful,  and  Ike,  fearful  of  the  consequences  to  his 
favorite,  proceeded  to  wade  across  the  stream  to  bring  him  in. 
The  current  was  swift  and  -deep,  but  there  was  a  strong  curve 
fifty  yards  below,  where  its  bed  widened  and  a  bar  formed 
which  nearly  met  the  side  opposite  that  whence  it  sprung. 
Here  the  wagons  had  crossed,  and  here,  by  wading  through 
about  three  feet  of  water,  and  taking  a  jump  over  a  shorL,  space 
which  intervened  between  the  shoals,  Ike  managed  to  ford  the 
stream.  He  soon  reached  the  spot  where  Lion  3till  kept  up 
his  growl,  and  seizing  him  by  the  collar  dragged  the  unwilling 


52  MARIAN  EOOKE;  OR, 

animal  down  the  bank.  Any  other  than  Ike  might  have  found 
this  operation  attended  with  some  peril ;  but  the  dog,  although 
sorely  discontented,  submitted  to  be  led  across  the  stream,  and 
finally  made  fast  with  the  end  of  a  lariat  to  one  of  the  wheels 
of  the  Castle. 

"Poor  old  Lion,"  repeated  Ike,  while  going  through  this  un 
gracious  task,  ' '  Poor  old  Lion !  Tells  'em  all  about  who's  comin', 
so  they  can  git  ready  for  bars  or  Injuns,  and  jest  gits  roped  up 
for  his  pains!  Knows  more  o'  what's  goin'  on  than  any  on  'em 
— long  Pelter,  or  Dick  Railes,  or  Jabe  Fitch,  or  any  out  o'  the  hull 
lot ;  and  they  jest  strut  round  all  cock-a-hoop  with  their  rifles  and 
bowies,  while  poor  old  Lion's  corded  up  like  a  break-jail!  Never 
mind,  Lion,  Ike  '11  bring  ye  a  good  elk-bone,  and  ye  can  enjoy 
yourself  if  ye  are  corralled. "  And  suiting  the  action  to  the  word, 
he  Bought  out  a  great  bone  from  some  secret  preserve,  and 
straightway,  presented  the  peace-offering  to  the  captive  ;  but  Lion 
gave  a  single  grateful  wag  of  his  tail,  and  then,  without  touching  the 
bone,  concentrated  his  attention  on  the  slope  he  had  just  quitted. 

"If  it  turns  out  to  be  a  grizzly,"  observed  Nahum  Pelter,  sen- 
tentiously,  "and  he  pokes  his  snout  over  the  rise,  three  on  us  had 
better  fire,  and  the  others  hold  their  loads." 

"Right,"  said  Seth;  "  he  might  take  the  creek  in  a  hurry, 
'specially  if  not  much  hurt.  Nahum,  s'poseyou,  and  Mr.  Gifford, 
and  Jabe  fire;  you're  all  steady  shots,  and  can  reload  as  quick  as 
any,  and  the  rest  on  us  kin  stand  by  for  squalls." 

This  plan  being  settled,  two  of  the  men  were  detailed  to  cross 
the  stream,  move  down  some  distance,  and  "feel"  in  a  manner 
the  enemy's  flank  on  the  right,  the  water  being  so  deep  above 
that  nothing  could  pass  it  without  swimming.  These  scouts 
having  received  their  instructions,  were  just  on  the  point  of 
starting,  when  a  savage  cry  from  Lion  again  fixed  all  eyes  on 
the  bank  opposite.  The  tall  figure  of  a  man,  by  his  dress  and 
hue  a  genuine  denizen  of  the  forest,  had  suddenly  appeared  upon 
its  summit.  Quick  as  light  the  three  rifles  flew  up  to  the  shoulder, 
and  were  levelled. 

"Hold!"  cried  Seth  Armstrong.  "Don't  shoot!  We  might 
have  a  hull  tribe  about  our  ears  afore' the  last  o'  the  echoes!" 

"Fact,"  assented  Mr.  Pelter,  reluctantly  dropping  his  piece. 
"Better  find  how  many  there  be  in  the  flock,  afore  shooting  the 
single  bird." 

"Ay,  ay;  don't  fire.  Shame  to  fire  on  a  single  man,  may 
be  a  friend;  have  a  palaver  fust,"  broke  confusedly  from  the 
various  members  of  the  group,  as  the  hostile  weapons  were 
lowered,  and  Ike  persuaded  Lion  into  a  temporary  silence. 


THE    QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  53 

The  Indian,  for  such  he  was,  had  remained  motionless  and  im 
passive  on  the  hillock ;  nor,  while  lie  saw  the  threatening  muzzles 
of  the  rifles,  did  he  change  his  attitude  or  his  expression.  He 
was  of  imposing  stature,  and,  from  the  elevation  of  the  ground 
where  he  stood,  seemed  to  tower  to  a  greater  than  human  height. 
Indeed,  what  with  his  swarthy  complexion,  his  air  of  command, 
and  the  suddenness  of  his  appearance,  there  required  no  great  effort 
of  the  imagination  to  conceive  him  the  very  genius  of  war,  at 
whose  beck  might  spring  forth  thousands  of  myrmidons  to  slay 
and  to  destroy. 

"\Vhen  he  saw,  however,  the  rifles  of  the  white  men  dropped 
from  then-  shoulders,  the  Indian,  with  a  gesture  full  of  grace, 
took  a  crimson  blanket  from  a  sort  of  knapsack  worn  at  his  back, 
and  holding  it  up  with  both  hands  at  the  two  corners,  shook  it 
forth  to  the  breeze,  at  the  sani6  time  sweeping  it  downwards  from 
above  his  head,  as  if  to  spread  it  on  the  ground.* 

"The  critter's  friendly  enough,''  exclaimed  Dick  Railes;  "he 
wants  to  have  a  povr-wow." 

"He  ain't  no  Pawnee,  nor  yit  no  Ottoe,  nor  yit  no  Utah;  he 
ain't  like  e'er  an  Injun  we've  seen  so  fur,"  remarked  Nahum 
Pelter. 

"Whatever  he  is,  he  means  us  no  harm,"  said  Hugh  Gifford. 
"He  clearly  proposes  a  parley." 

"  There  may  be  a  lot  more  hard  by,"  observed  Seth,  dubiously. 

"Surely,  if  he  has  companions,  and  they  intended  mischief,  an 
ambuscade,  or  a  night  attack,  would  be  more  promising  than  a 
demonstration  like  this."  said  Hugh.  "Besides,  as  our  friend 
here  says,  why  come  down  on  us  with  the  wind  f ' 

Thus  reassured,  Seth  Armstrong  laid  down  his  rifle,  and,  ad 
vancing  to  the  brink  of  the  rivulet,  with  amicable  signs  beck 
oned  the  stranger  to  enter  the  camp.  The  latter  shook  his  head 
courteously,  and  indicated  that  Seth's  companions  should  likewise 
dispense  with  their  arms.  A  consultation  followed,  which  resulted 
in  the  men  removing  their  rifles  to  a  point  at  some  little  distance  in 
their  rear ;  Seth,  however,  taking  the  precaution  to  see  that  the  two 
guns  were  properly  loaded  and  ready  in  the  Castle.  Upon  these 
concessions,  the  red  man  signified  his  willingness  to  confer  with 
the  party,  and,  having  descended  the  bank  and  forded  the 
stream,  he  advanced  with  dignity  among  them. 

*  A  signal  originating  in  the  habit  of  spreading  a  robe  or  skin  as  a  rest  for  gnests  to 
•whom  they  wished  to  show  distinguished  courtesy:  long  practised  as  a  eijjn  of  amity 
among  most  of  the  tribes  westward  of  the  Mississippi. 


54  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  stranger  looked  of  an  uncertain  age,  for,  while  his  face 
showed  many  marks  of  thought  and  exposure,  his  step  was  elas 
tic  as  that  of  a  youth.  The  features  were  prominent  and  aqui 
line,  with  the  copper  hue  and  high  cheek  bones  common  to  his 
race.  There  was,  however,  so  much  intelligence  in  the  face 
— so  much  shrewdness  and  perception  mingled  with  a  cer 
tain  courtly  reserve — that  the  first  impression  of  the  observer 
would  certainly  have  been  to  count  it  as  that  of  a  civilized  man. 
The  second,  indeed,  would  have  made  him  doubt ;  for  he  would 
now  perceive  that  inscrutable  tawn  in  the  swift  flashing  eye 
which  always  suggests  the  barbaric.  Unlike  those  of  most  of  the 
savages  of  the  plains,  his  countenance  seemed  free  from  grease 
or  paint ;  his  head,  however,  was  shaven,  except  the  invariable 
scalp-lock,  and  from  the  ornamental  circlet  which  surrounded  it 
there  sprung,  behind,  a  towering  eagle's  plume. 

He  wore  a  hunting  shirt  of  buckskin  not  unlike  those  of  the 
white  men,  and  leggings  of  the  highly  dressed  skin  of  the  ante 
lope.  The  sides  of  the  latter,  like  the  belt  and  head-dress,  were 
decorated  with  porcupine  quills  and  beads.  From  the  belt  were 
suspended  ba^gs  made  of  more  delicately  prepared  skins,  contain 
ing  ammunition,  and  a  formidable-looking  hunting  knife.  The 
feet  were  protected  by  moccasins  of  deer-skin  with  thick  elk 
soles,  and  the  crimson  blanket,  before  referred  to,  hung  from 
the  shoulders. 

"My  brothers  do  well,"  said  the  Indian,  as  he  advanced  into 
the  expectant  circle,  "  My  brothers  do  well  to  be  ready  with  their 
rifles,  for  there  are  many  Ilicarees  and  Ottoes  on  the  war  path, 
and  the  horse  thieves  are  always  watching  their  trail."  He 
spoke  in  English,  with  a  guttural  but  not  unmusical  accent,  and 
with  a  wave  of  the  hand,  as  if  to  spare  his  new  friends  the 
making  apology  for  their  somewhat  hasty  demonstration. 

"  You  are  not,  then,  of  either  of  those  tribes  T9  said  Hugh 
Gifford,  to  whom  Armstrong  had  signed  to  act  as  spokesman. 

"Of  no  tribe  which  my  brothers  have  seen.  We  are  too 
few  to  spread  far  over  the  land  like  the  Sioux  and  Blackfeet, 
and  my  brother's  track  lay  too  far  to  the  south.  There  are 
nearly  as  many  leagues  between  Washashaco  and  the  wigwams 
of  his  people  as  stretch  from  here  to  the  great  Lake  of  Bitter 
Waters." 


THi:   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  55 

"Arc  you  alone?" 

There  must  have  been  a  shade  of  anxiety  in  Gilford's  man 
ner  which  caused  the  slightest  possible  trace  of  amusement  in 
that  of  the  Indian,  as  he  replied,  "  Not  alone  ;  but  the  braves 
of  Washashaco  are  fewer  than  those  of  my  brother." 

"  Will  you  bring  your  braves  to  our  camp  that  they  may 
also  smoke  a  pipe  with  us  7" 

"  They  are  a  day's  journey  distant.     They  are  watching  the 

beavers,  who  arc  very  cunning.     Washash.aco   watches  here. 

By-and-by  we  shall  return  to  our  homes  laden  with  much  spoil." 

""  But  this  is  the  countiy  of  the  Utahs  ;  have  you  no  fear  of 

their  enmity?" 

A  haughty  smile  passed  over  the  chief 's  swarthy  countenance. 
"  The  Utahs  are  women.  Shall  we,  who  make  dogs  of  the 
Pawnees  and  running  hares  of  the  Ottoes,  swerve  from  our 
path  for  the  Utahs  ?  Besides,  these  Indians  fight  only  with 
tomahawks  and  poisoned  arrows  ;  our  great  Father  has  taken 
our  lauds,  it  is  true,  but  he  has  given  us  arms  which  are  very 
long.  The  French  and  Yengeese  traders  from  the  big  Lakes 
take  rich  skins  from  the  red  men,  and  give  them  short  guns  fit 
only  for  fire\vood  ;  the  people  of  my  brother  take  most  of  our 
hunting  grounds,  but  they  give  us  long  rifles,  the  better  to 
hunt  on  those  that  are  left." 

His  hearers  looked  instinctively  for  the  Indian's  arms. 

'•  Washashaco' s  hands  are  empty.  He  knew  his  white  bro 
thers  would  not  love  him  better  for  seeing  his  rifle.  He  there 
fore  left  it  with  his  horse  in  the  thicket." 

"Let  him  bring  his  horse  and  his  arms  into  our  camp.  Let 
him  partake  of  our  meat  and  smoke  of  our  pipe,  that  he  may 
rest  and  refresh  himself  before  he  goes  further  on  his  way." 

The  Indian  bowed  with  simple  courtesy.  "  Wafthashaco  will 
do  so,"  he  said,  and  turning  on  his  heel  he  recrossed  the  stream 
to  carry  the  invitation  of  GifFord  into  effect. 

Hasty  and  many  were  the  suggestions  and  observations 
which  followed  his  departure. 

"  Caii  we  trust  him,  d'ye  think  ?"  asked  Seth,  anxiously. 

"I  see  his  camp  fire  afore,"  said  Dick  Railes,  "but  thought  it 
mouglit  be  Luke's  or  some  of  Ike's  doin's." 

''There  may  be  others,"  surmised  the  Doctor,  u  on  the  other 
sides  of  us.  To  conceal  their  number  and  make  sure  of  ours, 
this  one  may  have  come  singly  to  lull  us  iuto  security  while  the 
rest  hem  us  securely  in." 

u  Ye'd  better  git  out  the  th'odolite,  Doctor,"  suggested  Dick 
with  irony,  ';  and  find  out  how  many  there  be." 


56         '  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"The  man  strikes  me  as  honest,"  said  Gilford,  replying  to 
Seth/"  but  be  that  as  it  may,  to  give  him  a  meal  and  an  ounce 
of  tobacco  can  do  no  harm.  If  he  means  mischief  he  can  work 
it  as  well  without  as  with  them." 

"  And  then  ag'in  there's  a  good  many  of  us,"  mused  Seth. 
"Injuns  don't  admire  so  many  long  range  rifles;  and  we're 
twelve  able-bodied  men,  to  say  nuthin'  of  Ike  and  Lion." 

"  'Twont  do  to  set  too  much  store  on  numbers,"  warned  Dick 
Railes,  who  had  considerable  doubts  as  to  the  fighting  capacity 
of  the  Eastern  men',  or  the  "Yanks,"  as  he  styled  them,  and, 
if  the  truth  must  be  told,  more  contempt  for  that  of  Hugh  Gilford 
than  for  those  of  any  of  the  others  ;  for  was  he  not  a  book  worm, 
a  scholard,  a  lawyer, — all  inconsistent  with  any  probable  success 
in  arms?  ".Numbers  is  sometimes  more  hurt  than  good. 
They  stirs  up  panic,  numbers  does ;  they  lose  their  grip  when 
fightin'  time  comes  ;  ye  can't  be  sure  of  e'er  a  man  that  hain't 
smelt  powder." 

"Come,  come,  Dick,  don't  skear  us  to  death  aforehand.  I 
guess  the  funkiest  of  us  'ud  rather  fight  than  lose  a  scalp  with 
out  it,  and  -that's  about  what  it  comes  to  if  we're  attacked." 

"  There's  more  danger  of  their  starvin'  ye  to  death,"  remarked 
Jabe  Fitch,  "  at  least  so  I've  heerd.  If  ye  meet  'em  when 
they've  been  a  long  time  without  game,  as  they'll  often  be  on 
the  plains,  they'll  jest  belt  your  grab  anyway,  if  they  don't 
your  scalps  ;  and  we've  a  long  way  to  travel  yit." 

"  That's  like  Jabe,  that  is,"  laughed  Dick.  "  He  kears  more 
for  his  belly  than  he  does  for  his  scalp,  any  day!" 

"And  why  shouldn't  I?"  put  Jabe,  stoutly.  "Ye  can  live 
without  the  one,  and  it's  sartin  ye  can't  without  the  other." 

"  All  things  considered,"  said  the  doctor,  "  it  may  be  as  well 
to  look  sharp  for  both.  But  I  agree  with  Gifford  in  thinking 
there's  no  harm  in  this  man.  The  signs  are  much  at  fault  if 
he's  a  bad  specimen  of  his  race." 

"Signs  don't  go  far  with  Injuns,"  said  the  censorious  Dick. 
"They're  wussthan  the  oldsarpint  himself  in  notlettin'  on  what 
they  mean  to  do." 

"Anyhow,"  pursued  Seth,  "we'll  be  ready  whatever  hap 
pens.  We'll  hev'  a.  double  watch  all  the  time,  and  keep  an 
extra  eye  on  the  cattle,  and  be  ready  to  move  at  any  minute. 
If  the  wust  comes  to  the  wust,  we  ain't  the  only  ones  who've  ever- 
crossed  the  plains,  nor  the  only  ones  who've  had  to  fight  their 
way  through." 

"  Fight  1"  chimed  in  Nahum  Pelter,  with  his  deep  bass  voice; 
"  there  won't  be  no  fight !" 


THE    QUEST    FOR     FORTUNE.  57 

"Why  won't  there?" 

"There  won't  be  no  fight — not  with  that  man  or  his  war 
riors — leastways,  not  if  he  says  there  won't." 

"And  why  not,  I  asked  ye  ?"  pressed  Seth. 

"  Because  he  won't  lie — he's  a  Delaware  !'* 

'•A' Delaware!"  exclaimed  Hugh  Gilford,  "and  in  these 
western  wilds !" 

"Ay;  Uncle  Sam  gave  'em  hunting  grounds  out  in  West 
Kansas.  They'd  changed  and  changed  as  the  years  rolled  on, 
and  the  country  got  thicker  settled,  and  the  Injuns  couldn't  live 
near  the  whites,  so  at  last  they've  got  'em  clear  into  Kansas, 
what  there  is  left  of  "em." 

"  And  you  think  this  is  one  of  the  tribe  ?" 

• '  I'm  sure  on't ;  I  knowed  at  first  he  weren't  neither  Paw 
nee,  nor  Creek,  nor  Sioux,  nor  Ottoe ;  but  I  didn't  see  the 
signs  that  told  me  what  he  was.  I've  known  Delawares  since 
I  was  knee  high,  and  I  never  heerd  o'  their  breaking  their 
words." 

••  But  what,  think  you,  is  the  cause  of  his  being  so  far  from 
his  hunting-grounds?" 

"  That  is  puzzlin'  ;  it  can't  be  for  huntin',  it's  no  use  to  come 
so  fur  ;  it  can't  be  for  tradin',  there's  nothin'  to  trade,  and  no 
body  to  trade  with.  I  take  it  there's  only  one  thing  else,  and 
that  is  that  he's  on  the  war  path." 

"  But  you  don't  think  he  means  harm  to  ourselves  ;  and  who 
else  is  there  to  fight  ?" 

"  True  enough,  who?"  repeated  Seth.  "  He's  the  first  red 
skin  we've  seen  for  a  fortnit." 

"  The  country  mought  swarm  with  'em,"  answered  the  Eli- 
noisian,  "  and  we  not  see  one.  There'd  be  two  hostile  parties, 
rnaybe.  each  trying  to  circumvent  the  other,  travellin'  only  at 
night,  lurkin*  in  the  valleys  and  gulches  by  day,  or  dodgin'  and 
crawlin'  on  their  bellies  among  the  brush,  weeks  and  weeks 
afore  a  war  cry's  heard  or  a  scalp  took.  We  not  seem'  'em's 
no  sure  thing  they  ain't  thar." 

"  It  seems  prudent,  Mr.  Armstrong,"  said  Gilford,  "  to  ac 
cept  this  Indian's  presence  as  the  evidence  of  others  besides 
his  own  party  being  near.  It  may  be  as  well  to  take  it  for 
granted,  and  to  act  as  if  we  were  sure  of  it." 

"Them's  my  idees,"  corroborated  Mr.  Pelter.  "But  here 
comes  the  chief  back  again.  P'raps  he'll  let  on  what  he's  up  to 
himself — most  likely,  if  no  one  asks  him  'bout  it." 

The  warrior  now  returned,  this  tune  bestriding  a  powerful 
mare,  and  carrying  a  formidable  rifle.  Luke  Armstrong  took 
3*  ' 


58  MARIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 

charge  of  the  former,  notwithstanding  her  owner's  courteous 
deprecation  of  the  service,  and  Lion  was  soon  reconciled  to  the 
unfamiliar  presence  on  seeing  its  amicable  relations  with  his 
friends.  Washashaco  readily  partook  of  the  refreshment  of 
fered  him,  and  the  "whole  party,  with  a  mingling  of  curiosity, 
policy,  and  a  large  proportion  of  genuine  kindness,  vied  with 
each  other  in  offering 'him  attentions.  Mrs.  Armstrong  was, 
perhaps,  an  exception,  for  nothing  could  induce  her  to  regard 
an  Indian  otherwise  than  with  aversion  and  distrust.  "  They 
ain't  Christians,"  she  declared  ;  '.l  and  it's  agin  Scripture  to  put 
your  faith  in  the  heathen.  Lion  knew  the  Evil  One  was  about 
somewheres.  Jest  as  like  's  not  he'll  cut  all  our  throats  in  the 
night,  and  lug  off  our  scalps  afore  breakfast. " 

"Dear  Mrs.  Armstrong,"  argued  Mary  Anne,  "I've  always 
heard  that  the  Delawares  were  a  noble  race,  and  most  wander 
ing  tribes,  they  say,  will  always  respect  your  confidence,  if  they 
have  broken  bread  and  eaten  salt  with  you." 

"  They  tell  that  about  the  Arabs,  I  know,"  conceded  the  good 
lady  ;  "but  they're  half  Christians  ;  they  ain't  like  these  'ere 
painted  devils,  who  go  round  liowlin'  and  scalpin'  folks." 

"  You've  no  call  to  be  the  least  afeerd,  Miss  Kitty,"  said  Dick 
Kailes,  who  always  availed  of  any  excuse  to  get  near  that 
blooming  damsel ;  "  he's  quite  safe,  and  we're  goin'  to  keep 
double  watch  to-night." 

"Law,  Richard,  I'm  not  afraid,"  replied  Kitty,  saucily  ;  "and 
if  twelve  men  are  not  enough  for  one  Indian,  I'm  sure  four 
women  would  be." 

"  And  what  do  you  think  of  this  chieftain  ?"  Mary  Anne  asked 
of  Hugh  Gilford. 

"Think'?  Why,  that  it  would  be  more  dangerous  to  appear 
to  doubt  than  to  trust  him." 

Washashaco  said  nothing  of  his  objects,  or  those  of  his  braves, 
during  the  day ;  and  although  the  principal  and  most  responsi 
ble  members  of  the  party  were  naturally  anxious  on  the  subject, 
they  yet  prudently  forbore  to  question  him.  The  Indian's  eye 
roved  unceasingly  over  their  camp,  their  equipage,  their  cattle, 
and  their  arms  ;  but  otherwise  he  expressed  neither  curiosity 
nor  surprise.  Once,  indeed,  when  Seth  opened  the  rearward 
entrance  to  Castle  Armstrong,  and  showed  him  its  singular  in 
terior,  he  uttered  a  characteristic  "  Ugh  ;"  but  this  might  have 
been  elicited  by  satisfaction  with  the  very  obvious  disgust  of 
Mrs.  Armstrong  at  the  procedure,  rather  than  by  admiration  of 
what  he  saw  besides.  During  the  day  he  preserved  his  silence, 
but  at  night,  when  all  were  assembled  around  the  camp  fire, 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  59 

and  the  females  had  retired,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  address 
his  friends  on  a  topic  of  common  interest.  The  night  was 
cooler  than  usual,  and  the  wind  hurtled  mournfully  through  the 
cottonwoods  and  willows  which  stood  on  the  banks  of  the 
stream.  The  camp  fire  was,  therefore,  made  large  and  ruddy, 
and  it  cast  a  far-reaching  glow  over  the  picturesque  scene  which 
surrounded  it.  Pipes  and  whiskey  had  been  produced  ;  but  al 
though  the  Indian  used  the  tobacco  freely,  he  declined  to  touch 
the  stimulant  which  has  been  the  curse  of  so  many  of  his  race. 
The  men  mostly  lay  stretched  on  their  robes  and  blankets  in  va 
rious  attitudes  of  careless  ease,  for  four  of  their  number  were 
circling  the  camp  in  vigilant  patrol,  and  they  were  free  to 
smoke  in  quiet.  Seth  Armstrong  sat  on  one  side,  with  Doctor 
Landale  and  Hugh  Gilford  supporting  him  on  either  hand  ;  the 
Indian  seeming  to  regard  the  two,  in  their  capacities  of  medi 
cine-man  and  spokesman,  as  somewhat  elevated  above  the  rest 
of  the  party.  Washashaco,  in  dignified  isolation,  sat  apart  a 
short  distance  upon  his  crimson  blanket.  Not  far  off  were  Icha- 
bod  and  Lion,  both  grave  and  attentive  watchers  r.f  the  proceed 
ings.  What  with  the  long  beards  and  gleaming  eyes,  the  pic 
turesque  costumes,  the  bits  of  bright  color  thrown  out  here  and 
there  by  the  dancing  flames,  and  the  intense  solitude  of  the 
scene  far  around  it,  the  group  would  have  appeared  to  a  specta 
tor,  to  use  the  hackneyism,  well  worthy  a  painter's  pencil. 

There  had  been  a  long  pause,  purposely  unbroken  by  his 
hosts,  when  the  chief  rose  to  his  feet  and  spoke  : 

"My  brothers  have  heard  of  the  tribe  of  the  Delawares. 
They  were  once  very  many  and  very  strong.  They  are  now 
very  few,  but  still  strong,  and  will  be  so  until  the  last  of  the 
Lenni  Lenape  shall  join  his  fathers  in  the  happy  hunting- 
grounds.  Their  braves  were  once  counted  by  tens  of  thou 
sands,  and  there  are  now  only  a  few  poor  hundreds  ;  but  the 
hundreds  who  remain  are  mighty  warriors,  and  their  deeds  are 
not  less  brave  than  the  deeds  of  those  who  have  gone  before. 

•  •  My  brothers  have  heard  how  their  fathers  deprived  the  Del 
awares  of  their  lands  ;  it  is  an  old  story,  and  it  cannot  be  pleas 
ant  to  my  brothers'  ears.  It  cannot  be  pleasant  to  be  told  that 
their  fathers  did  wrong,  therefore  I  will  not  repeat  it.  I  will 
only  say  that  the  Delawares  came  from  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  as  then-  fathers  came  from  those  of  the  Susquehanna; 
and  that  they  came  from  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  as  they 
came  from  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  The  remnant  of  my 
tribe  are  now  far  from  the  mighty  river,  where  they  were 
told  they  should  live  for  ever.  They  are  now  in  the  .west- 


60  MARIAN   KQOKE  ;    OR, 

ern  plains  of  Kansas.  If  the  Delawares  were  as  numerous  as 
they  were  when  they  first  left  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna, 
they  would  be  pushed  on,  and  pushed  on,  until  they  were  pushed 
at  sunset  into  the  great  lake  of  bitter  waters.  But  they  are  few, 
and  their  last  warriors  will  be  dead  and  forgotten  before  they  can 
be  driven  to  the  great  mountains. 

"  Old  men  say  that  one  wrong  brings  on  another ;  and  it  is 
so  with  red  men  as  well  as  white  ones.  The  white  men  thrust 
the  Delawares  from  their  hunting-grounds,  and  the  Delawares 
have  been  forced  to  thrust  the  Pawnees  and  Sioux  from  theirs. 
The  Pawnees  did  not  like  to  see  the  Delawares  come  into  the 
land  that  had  always  been  theirs.  This  was  to  be  expected. 
They  fight  all  the  time  ;  but  the  Delawares  are  better  warriors, 
and  kill  far  more  braves  than  they  lose.  Still,  they  lose  many, 
and  grow  fewer  and  fewer  every  year.  This  is  a  pity ;  but  they 
cannot  now,  even  if  they  would,  return  to  the  lands  they  have 
left  behind.  They  will,  therefore,  remain,  and  die  fighting. 

"  Three  moons  ago,  a  strong  band  of  Pawnees  made  an 
attack  upon  one  of  our  villages.  It  was  at  night,  and  most 
of  the  young  men  were  absent  hunting.  The  Pawnees  burned 
the  village,  and  killed  some  old  women.  They  also  drove  off 
some  cattle.  They  were  pursued,  and  divided  into  several 
parties.  Washashaco,  and  the  braves  -under  his  command, 
chased  the  party  which  was  led  by  their  principal  chief.  After 
a  little,  the  Pawnees  discovered  your  train,  and  resolved  to 
attack  it.  They  did  not  do  so  because  you  were  then  near  the 
Forts,  and  they  were  afraid.  They  followed,  determined  to 
surprise  you  after  you  should  cross  the  mountains,  and  so  be 
far  distant  from  the  soldiers  of  your  great  father.  I  and  my 
braves  have  followed  them  cautiously,  knowing  every  step  they 
have  taken.  They  think  the  Delawares  have  returned  to  their 
camp.  Four  days  ago  they  were  short  of  food,  and  they  stop 
ped  to  hunt.  I  hastened  on,  and  gained  some  distance,  leaving 
rny  braves  to  watch  their  course.  The  Pawnees  will  soon  attack 
the  camp  of  my  brothers ;  but  Washashaco  and  his  young  men 
will  help  them  to  fight." 

The  address  of  the  chief  had  been  thus  far  received  in  un 
broken  silence;  but  when  it  arrived  at  this  startling  pero 
ration,  a  hum  of  anxiety  and  exclamation  ran  round  the  circle. 
Seth  raised  his  hand,  imposing  continued  silence ;  and  Gilford 
rose. 

"  We  have  listened,"  he  said,  "  with  interest  and  attention,  and 
we  hope  we  shall  be  good  friends  both  with  Washashaco  and  his 
warriors.  But  why  is  it — since  the  Delawares  have  been  injured 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  61 

by  the  white  men — why  is  it  that  they  should  offer  to  assist  white 
men  against  their  enemies  ?" 

'"Because,"  answered  the  chief,  gravely,  " because  the  Del- 
awares  are  at  peace  with  the  white  men,  and  at  war  with  their 
red  enemies ;  because  the  Delawares  and  my  brothers  together 
can  fight  the  Pawnees,  but  would  not  be  strong  enough  to  fight 
them  singly,  for  they  are  many ;  and  because,  though  there  are 
some  Delawares  who  do  not  like  white  men.  there  are  no  Dela 
wares  but  who  hate  Pawnees.  Is  my  brother  answered?" 

Gilford  bowed  assent,  and  continued,  "What,  then,  is  the 
number  of  the  Pawnees  ?" 

"When  we  first  struck  then*  trail,"  said  Washashaco,  "they 
counted  over  three  score ;  but  some  have  left  them  by  the  way.  *' 

"Three  score!"  exclaimed  Xahuni  Pelter,  with  a  dismayed 
whistle ;  "that's  five  to  one,  I  reckon." 

''My  big  brother  forgets  the  braves  of  Washashaco.'' 

' '  And  how  many  are  they  ?" 

"  There  are  nine  besides  Washashaco." 

"Chief!"  said  Seth,  anxiously,  "how  do  ye  know  where  the 
Pawnees  air  now  ?  How  do  JQ  know  but  they  might  come  upon 
us  at  any  moment;  p'raps  this  very  night  ?'' 

"  Because,  had  they  been  near  enough  to  strike,  the  Delawares 
would  have  been  here  to  warn  their  chief  long  before  the  sun 
went  to  sleep." 

"But  were  your  people  to  approach  this  neighborhood,"  said 
Gifford,  "  how  are  they  to  discover  you  ?  Our  sentinels  are 
wary,  and  should  the  Delawares  approach  the  camp,  may  mis 
take  them  for  enemies." 

"3Iy  braves  are  not  geese,"  replied  the  warrior,  "and  they 
know  that  my  white  brothers  are  here.  When  they  arrive  they 
will  be  half  a  day's  journey  in  advance  of  the  Pawnees,  for  they 
are  well  mounted,  and  know  where  to  come.  They  will  seek 
Washashaco  in  a  spot  where  he  has  lately  been.  They  will  find 
that  he  is  in  safety  and  close  at  hand.  Had  any  accident  befallen 
him.  they  would  know  that,  too.  Should  they  come  by  night 
or  by  day,  AVashashaco  will  know  it ;  and  they  will  not  enter 
your  camp  until  they  are  invited  by  their  white  brothers." 

The  party  were  fain  to  rest  content  with  these  assurances, 
although  it  became  evident^  to  the  boldest  that  their  situation 
was  a  critical  one.  If  the  cliict  's  statements  and  opinions  could 
be  implicitly  relied  upon,  the  chance  for  protecting  their  lives  and' 
property  was  by  no  means  too  good ;  while,  if  he  were  playing 
them  false,  it  must  "be  with  a  design  whose  fruition  was  likely  to 
be  yet  more  fatal  to  their  security.  The  latter  theory,  however, 


62  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

none  were  ready  to  maintain ;  the  opinion,  that  it  would  be  well 
to  keep  a  close  watch  upon  Washashaco,  constituting  its  strongest 
expression.  As  for  the  chief  himself,  having  paid  what  he  came 
to  say,  he  had  folded  himself  in  his  blanket,  and  quietly  gone  to 
sleep  by  the  camp  fire.  Most  of  the  others  were  wakeful, 
naturally  enough,  and  remained  a  long  time  in  anxious  and 
thoughtful  counsel.  Ike  and  Lion  lay  down  trustingly  together 
next  to  the  red  man,  and  dropped  into  their  customary  slum 
bers  ;  but  it  was  long  before  their  comrades  desisted  from  their 
whispered  consultations,  and  the  small  hours  were  creeping  on 
ere  the  little  camp  was  once  more  buried,  in  repose. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  sweet  air  of  the  morning  was  just  stealing  over  the  earth 
when  Mary  Anne  left  her  couc\i ;  and  the  rosy  fingers  of  Aurora 
had  not  quite  swept  away  the  deep  and  tender  blue  which  still 
lingered  in  the  west.  The  girl  stole  down  to  the  tiny  beach  of 
yellow  sand  which  margined  the  rippling  stream  to  get  water 
for  her  morning  ablutions.  She  glanced  as  she  went  toward  the 
camp  fire ;  it  was  burning  yet,  or  rather  smouldering  in  its  tum 
bling  debris  of  white  ashes,  and  the  robe-wrapped  figures  hud 
dled  about  it  were  motionless  in  slumber.  By  the  ford  lower 
down  the  stream,  she  saw  a  figure  leaning  statue-like  against  a 
tree.  His  rifle  was  clasped  in  the  arms  folded  across  his  chest, 
while  the  breech  rested  on  the  ground.  The  head  of  the  senti 
nel  drooped  forward  heavily,  and  he,  too,  seemed  fast  asleep. 
It  was  very,  very  still,  but,  as  always  happens,  it  seemed  more 
silent  because  there  were  certain  sounds  to  remind  one  of  the 
absence  of  others.  Such  were  the  deep  breathing  of  the  sleep 
ers,  the  gentle  swirling  of  the  stream,  and  the  confused  trilling 
of  some  early  birds. 

The  girl  completed  her  toilet  .undisturbed.  She  arranged 
some  details  of  her  dress,  and  bound  into  a  simple  knot  the 
great  masses  of  black  hair  which  had  previously  fallen  below  her 
waist.  Close  by  was  a  smooth  pjol,  caused  by  an  accidental 
eddy,  and  darkened  by  a  little  shrubbery  beside  it.  Into  this, 
with  a  natural  impulse,  she  looked,  as  she  adjusted  her  tresses, 
as  if  to  mark  the  final  effect, 

"  But  that  Miss  Armstrong  is  so  free  from  vanity,"  said  a  low 


THE   QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  63 

voice  behind  her,  "  one  might  think  her  in  danger  of  the  fate  of 
Narcissus." 

She  was  called  Miss  Armstrong  by  the  party,  just  as  the  young 
lady  to  whom  that  designation  belonged  was  universally  known 
as  'Kitty  ;  and  Hugh  Gifford,  finding  she  did  not  object,  so 
styled  her.  She  looked  up  with  a  quick  blush. 

"  Mr.  Gifford  is  not  often  lavish  of  even  implied  compliments ; 
but,  since  he  has  grown  classical  and  speaks  of  fate,  he  shouldn't 
forget  that  of  Action." 

';  Indeed,  I  only  came  as  the  coiffure  approached  its  conclu 
sion — an  offence  not  punishable,  I  hope,  even  in  the  eyes  of  the 
most  severe  of  Dianas.  What  a  lovely  morning!  and  how 
calm  and  peaceful  everything  appears.  Thank  Heaven,  we  are 
aU  safe  thus  far!" 

"  You  think  we  are  in  danger,  then  ?" 

"  You  know  nothing  of  what  passed  last  night?" 

"  I  do.  Kitty  and  I  were  uneasy  after  the  arrival  of  the  In 
dian.  We  yielded  to  the  natural  propensity  of  our  sex,  and  list 
ened  from  the  wagon.  Poor  child  I  She  was  in  mortal  ter 
ror." 

"And  you?" 

"  I  ?  I  accustomed  myself  to  the  idea  that  danger  was  in 
evitable  in  crossing  the  plains.  I  ran  some  risks  to  enable  my 
self  to  do  so.  I  have  lately  endured  a  great,  a  desolating  af 
fliction.  Perhaps,  therefore,  I  am  not  so  appalled  at  the  chance 
of  peril." 

';  I  really  apprehend  that  chance  is  serious.  The  men  will 
fight  well,  if  need  be,  without  doubt.  But  I  fear  we  may  be 
assailed  by  overwhelming  numbers." 

"  Why  not  fly,  push  on  as  last  as  possible,  and  so  escape?" 

"Impossible.  These  heavy. wagons  could  never  keep  ahead 
of  the  horses  of  our  pursuers  ;  and  to  abandon  them  is  to  risk 
starvation.  Besides,  the  chief  would  be  dissatisfied  by  such  an 
attempt,  even  if  he  did  not  essay  forcibly  to  oppose  it." 

"  Why  should  he  do  so  ?" 

"  He  thinks  of  nothing  but  glory.  Why  should  he  be  here  ? 
Why  acquaint  us  with  the  designs  of  our  enemies  ?  Simply 
because  he  hopes  to  win  a  triumph  over  them,  and  carry  back 
their  scalps  to  the  lodges  of  his  people.  He  would  not  regard 
with  favor  any  policy  on  our  part  which  would  render  an  en 
counter  less  probable." 

"  But  is  he  sanguine  of  success  1" 

"He  counts  upon  it  as  certain." 

"  And  what  if  it  should  be  otherwise  ?" 


64  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

"  You  mean  should  we  be  overcome  ?"• 

"Yes." 

"  The  men  would  probably  all  be  killed  ;  the  women  carried 
into  captivity." 

"  That  I  for  one  would  not  be.  Still  you  do  not  think  our 
case  really  desperate  ?" 

"By  no  means.  We  have  .many  advantages  of  position. 
This  stream  covers  us  pretty  effectually  on  nearly  three  sides. 
We  can  barricade  the  fourth  so  as  to  obtain  all  the  advantage 
of  a  fortified  position.  As  to  provisions  and  water,  we  are 
abundantly  supplied  ;  so  that,  if  the  enemy  attempt  a  siege,  we 
need  not  dread  it.  Meantime,  there  is  always  a  hope  that  some 
other  and  more  numerous  party  of  our  own  race  may  chance 
this  way  and  reinforce  us." 

He  spoke  lightly,  but  there  was  a  gravity  in  his  eye,  and  the 
habitual  compression  of  the  lips  was  slightly  increased.  Mary 
Anne  went  on  as  though  answering  what  she  saw  in  his 
thoughts  rather  than  what  fell  from  his  mouth. 

"  I  don't  know  that  I  should  fear  to  die*"  she  said,  musingly, 
"  or  much  regret  it.  True,  I  had  hoped  to  be  of  some  small 
use  in  the  world.  What  they  taught  me  might  be  useless  for 
myself,  considering  what  my  future  station  is  likely  to  be.  But 
all  these  busy  ones  thronging  to  the  land  of  gold — they  must . 
have  children,  and  I  could  teach  them,  and  so  be  not  altogether 
a  useless  clod — a  cumberer  of  the  earth  !" 

She  had  spoken  of  this  scheme  before,  and  Hugh,  seeing  it 
was  a  somewhat  cherished  one,  had  applauded  it  as  an  honora 
ble  and  useful  career  for  her  to  adopt.  But  he  had  thought 
before,  and  he  thought  now,  as  he  gazed  on  the  girl's  striking 
face,  and  remembered  her  many  attractions,  that,  in  a  land 
where  women  arc  few,  such  an  one  would  find  plenty  to  dis 
suade  her  from  the  arduous  toils  of  a  school  teacher. 

"  What  is  life,"  continued  Mary  Anne,  with  more  bitterness 
than  was  usual  with  her,  "what  is  life,  when  one  has  nothing 
to  make  life  dear?  The  home,  the  cherished  scenes,  the  faith 
ful  friends,  and  more,  far  more  than  all,  the  adored  father — 
gone,  all  gone,  and  for  ever.  Why  should  I  wish  to  live, 
without  father,  without  home,  without  friends  ?" 

"Do  not  say  without  friends/'  interrupted  Gifford,  gently. 
"  I  am  sure  this  worthy  family  are  your  good  friends,  and  Kitty 
dearly  loves  you.  Do  not  say  without  friends ;  for  I — I — if  you 
will  let  me  call  myself  so,  I  will  always  be  a  friend  to  you." 

"You  will?" 

"I  will." 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  65 

"You  promise  it,  then  ?" 

"Faithfully." 

"  I  shall  remember,  and  perhaps  call  upon  you  some  time  to 
remember." 

"  Now,  and  always.  And  for  now,  since  it  is  one  of  a  friend's 
offices  to  tell  truths,  let  me  offer  you  one.  A  woman  with 
youth  and  beauty — I  do  not  flatter,  recollect,  for  I  am  only  a 
friend — with  youth  and  beauty  such  as  yours  should  despair  of 
nothing.  The  loss  of  friends,  indeed,  she  may  deplore,  for  it  is 
irreparable.  But  there  is  nothing  else,  no  other  loss  but  it  can 
be  supplied,  and  more.  Youth,  health,  loveliness — they  can 
compass  anything !" 

"Anything?" 

"Why  not?     They  can  procure  fortune." 

"Dross!" 

"  Ah  !  you  have  never  wanted  it.     Fame " 

"  That  is  more  valuable." 

-'Love •" 

"Love!"  she  exclaimed,  as  the  color  rose  in  her  pure  olive 
cheek — '-Love  !  Xo  I  They  cannot  procure  love  !" 

"  Believe  me,  they  can.     More  surely  than  all  else  beside." 

"Are  you  sure  of  it?"  she  asked,  archly,  and  turning  her 
lustrous  black  eyes  full  on  his  face,  "  With  your  particular  ex 
perience,  do  you  feel  so  sure?" 

Gifibrd  colored  in  turn.  "  You  know  exceptions  are  admit 
ted  to  prove  general  rules.  But  my  argument  is  that  you  have 
everything  to  hope — a  bright,  a  cherished,  a  courted  future ! 
Contrast  your  case  with  mine.  I  see  nothing  before  me  but  a 
long,  miserable  struggle  with  poverty,  before  which  I  may  sue 
cunab  at  last." 

"You  have  also  youth;  you  have  talents,  ambition." 

"  The  first  and  last,  perhaps  ;  but,  unlike  you,  I  have  no  happy 
past  to  recur  to,  to  show  me  that  life  may  sometimes  be  bright 
and  beautiful.  The  vista  behind  is  grim,  cheerless,  and  deso 
late,  and  I  have  no  right  to  assume  that  it  .will  be  different  with 
me  in  the  future.  My  life  has  been  all  bitterness.  I  have  par 
taken  unwillingly  of  the  bitter  cup  of  the  Puritans,  vrho  settled 
in  the  rocky  land  that  bore  me.  The  draught  has  been  flavored 
with  all  of  asceticism,  intolerance,  hardship,  they  ever  knew  or 
I  most  loathe,  without  the  enthusiasm  which  enabled  them  to 
drain,  it  to  the  dregs,  or  the  perversity  which  enabled  them  to 
call  it  nectar.  I  have  no  friends  whom  I  can  esteem ;  there  are 
none  who  love  me." 

"  None  who  love  you  1     You  forget  Virginia !" 


66  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OK, 

4 

She  was  quite  right ;  more  than  once  in  this  conversation  had 
Hugh  forgotten  Virginia ;  but  the  reproach,  while  he  felt  it  to 
be  just,  nettled  him  at  the  moment,  and  he  said,  hastily  : 

"\Vere  I  to  tell  her  as  much  as  I  have  now  told  you,  she 
would  think  me  as  crazy  as  poor  Ike  there ;  and  so  I  should  be 
to  tell  it  with  the  hope  of  sympathy.'' 

"  Then  why — "  The  girl  reddened,  stammered,  and  paused. 
It  was  doubtful  whether  she  felt  more  of  relief  or  annoyance 
when  the  cheery  call  of  Kitty  Armstrong  came  to  her  aid  by 
summoning  her  to  the  inside  of  the  castle.  However,  she  ilew 
to  respond  to  it,  and  left  Gilford  standing  absorbed  in  thought 
upon  the  strand. 

Looking  up,  he  saw  in  the  act  of  crossing  from  the  opposite 
bank  the  tall  figure  of  the  chieftain,  who  had  evidently  fore 
stalled  his  hosts,  early  as  their  rising  had  been. 

"Washashaco  is  up  before  the  sun,"  said  Gilford,  as  he  sa 
luted  him.  "  Has  he  seen  anything  of  interest  this  morning?" 

There  was  the  slightest  smile  of  polite  irony  on  the  Indian's 
face,  as  he  replied  : 

"  I  saw  the  White  Fawn  talking  with  my  brother,  and  I  saw 
her  run  away  into  the  moving  wigwam." 

"  Has  the  chief  any  tidings  of  his  braves  ?" 

k  fc  N  one.  i  he  Pawnees  are  bad  hunters  as  well  as  bad  warriors, 
and  they  have  found  no  deer.  Or  they  have  fallen  in  with  an 
other  party  of  their  tribe,  and  will  come  in  greater  numbers." 

"  Should  they  do  so,  our  chance  to  resist  them  will  be  but  small." 

"  They  are  clogs.  Great  in  feasting  ;  great  when  their  young 
men  drag  at  their  heels  the  skin  of  the  polecat ;  great  in  be 
coming  hogs  when  they  get  at  the  white  man's  lire-water  ;  but 
small  on  the  war-path,  and  like  children  when  they  encounter 
the  Dekr.vares." 

"  The  Delawares  are  valiant,  and  their  white  friends  will 
fight  hard  ;  but  can  they  hope  to  do  wonders  ?  Can  they  make 
one  rifle  equal  to  ten '?" 

"  Is  my  brother  afraid?" 

A  hot  flush  rose  to  Gilford's  brow,  but  he  restrained  his  an 
ger,  and  answered  gently,  "  He  has  not  yet  been  in  battle,  and 
perhaps  makes  the  danger  greater  than  it  is.  Most  of  his  peo 
ple  think  they  can  conquer  against  five  times  their  number  of 
Indians." 

"  The  white  men  have  better  guns,  and  the  red  men  have 
more  cunning.  But  this  place  can  be  made  strong,  like  the 
forts  of  the  soldiers  at  Leavenworth.  Very  few  can  hold  it 
against  very  many." 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  G7 

The  sleepers  by  this  time  were  awake  and  stirring,  and  Icha- 
bod,  having  approached  the  spot  where  the  chief  and  GhTord 
stood,  thought  this  a  favorable  moment  to  join  in  their  deliber 
ations. 

•'  Ike  kin  hold  it  alone,"  he  remarked,  gravely  ;  ';  Ike  and 
Lion.  We  ki:i  hold  it  agin  all  the  red-skins  'twixt  here  and  the 
Mississippi.  There  ain't  ne'er  an  Injun  'tid  dare  fire  a  gun  if 
they  knew  Ike  was  anywheres  'round.  He  can  do  all  the 
fightin'  and  all  the  gold-findin',  he  kin ;  only  he  won't  tell  ye 
'bout  the  gold,  cause  it's  bad  for  ye.  Small  good  in  gittin' 
things'for  nuthin'.  Lion  works  for  his  dinner,  and  gits  a  good 
appetite." 

lie  was  a  strange  figure  enough,  with  his  shock  of  red  hair  ; 
his  cap  of  bearskin,  with  its  extravagantly  long  plumes ;  his 
hunting-shirt,  with  its  grotesque  ornaments  of  beads  and  feath 
ers,  and  bits  of  fur ;  his  assured  speech,  and  his  ungainly  ac 
tion.  But  the  Indian  regarded  him  with  a  countenance  as  im 
movable  as  stone. 

••  P'raps  yc'd  like  some  gold,  chief?  P'raps  you\l  like  to 
cook  your  elk  in  a  gold  pot.  and  wear  a  crown  from  now  to 
never.  Ike  knows  where  it  is — more  'n  they  ever  found  in 
Mexico,  or  Golcondy,  or  Peroo  !  More  'n  they  ever  piled  inter 
the  mint  at  Philadclfy  !  Acres  of  it — mountains  of  it — so  ye 
kin  have  yer  wigwams,  and  yer  canoes,  and  ycr  tomahawks, 
and  yer  huntin'  knives,  all  of  bright,  pure,  beautiful,  yaller 
gold." 

"  My  brother  is  laughing,"  said  Washashaco,  sententiously. 

"  D'ye  know  what  we're  goin'  to  do  }  AYe're  goin'  to  sail 
in  bime  by.  and  jest  take  the  hull  continent,  and  drive  out  the 
Britishers,  and  the  Rooshians,  and  the  red-skins,  and  the  greas 
ers,  and  annex  Canady,  and  gobble  up  Cuby,  and  clean  out  the 
hull  lot  of  'eni  I  That's  what  we're  goin'  to  do.  And  every 
man  shall  have  two  farms,  and  live  on  milk,  and  honey,  and 
elk-meat,  and  hoe-cake,  and  never  do  any  work  'cept  when  he 
goes  to  Congress  !  And  Ike's  to  be  the  President  one  week, 
turn  about,  and  Lion  another  !  Hooray  1  for  Ike  the  Fust,  and 
the  '  Murikun  eagle  I'  Hooray !" 

And  he  began  his  strange  performance  of  capering  and  leap 
ing  about,  and  covering  himself  with  his  buffalo  robe,  at  which 
Lion,  as  usual,  assumed  that  he  was  a  bear,  and  attacked  him 
furiously  accordingly.  The  Indian  looked  at  him  steadfastly 
for  a  space,  and  then  a  light  crept  over  his  bronzed  and  haughty 
features 

i;  My  brother  is  possessed  of  the  Great  Spirit,"  he  said,  rev- 


68  MARIAN   KOOKE  ;    OR, 

erently,  ' c  and  no  red  man  would  do  him  harm  ;  but  they  might 
not  always  respect  his  friends." 

The  camp  was  now  all  bustle  and  activity.  The  females 
were  preparing  the  morning  meal,  and  the  men  were  hard  at 
work  moving  the  wagons  into  a  position  which  would  cause 
them,  so  far  as  they  could  extend,  to  describe  a  chord  of  the 
arc  formed  by  the  little  stream.  On  the  right,  with  its  back  to 
the  river,  was  the  corral  where  the  cattle  were  placed  5  a  situa 
tion  more  secure  than  that  on  the  left,  where  lay  the  ford.  It 
was  believed  that  no  enemy  would  risk  an  attack  on  the  water 
side,  thus  giving  the  greatest  possible  advantages  to  the  de 
fence,  and  it  therefore  seemed  prudent  to  strengthen  the  open 
or  land  approach  as  much  as  possible.  The  soil  was  extremely 
hard  and  stony,  and  the  attempt  to  throw  up  a  breastwork  of 
earth  would,  it  was  judged,  be  impracticable,  or,  if  practicable, 
involve  too  much  exhausting  labor  ;  and  it  was  expedient  to 
keep  their  small  number  as  fresh  and  unexhausted  as  safety 
would  permit. 

On  a  small  knoll  which  separated  the  corral  from  the  space 
forming  the  immediate  camp,  stood  a  copse  of  timber,  almost 
the  only  wood  of  any  moment  in  sight.  There  was,  it  is  true, 
a  thin  fringe  of  cpttonwoods  scattered  along  the  banks  of  the 
rivulet ;  but  they  were  few  and  sparse,  and  afforded  little  cover. 
The  copse  in  question,  however,  chiefly  consisting  of  hard, 
gnarly  mahogany  of  the  scrub  description  found  in  this  region, 
was  so  close  and  thick  as  to  afford  considerable  protection. 
Here,  after  careful  consultation,  Castle  Armstrong  was  now 
planted,  to  serve  as  a  refuge  for  the  women,  and,  indeed,  as  a 
kind  of  citadel  to  the  fortress. 

Seth  Armstrong,  having  slept  on  the  intelligence  received  the 
night  before,  was  possessed,  in  the  morning,  with  the  idea  that 
the  intervention  of  poor  Ichabod  might  be  made  as  useful  in  the 
event  of  an  .attack  from  the  Pawnees  as  it  had  been  on  a  pre 
vious  occasion  ;  but  Washashaco,  now  apprised  of  the  latter 
incident,  and  having  seen  the  hero  of  it,  shook  his  head,  on  its 
being  suggested  that  such'*  a  result  might  again  be  hoped  for. 
The  Pawnees,  he  represented,  would  in  all  probability  attempt 
a  surprise  ;  in  such  a  case,  how  should  they  know  or  care  that 
any  one  possessed  of  the  Great  Spirit  had  made  the  party  con 
traband  of  war  ?  In  such  a  tone,  if  not  in  such  precise  terms, 
he  opposed  any  reliance  on  Ike's  mediation.  The  truth  was, 
the  warrior  desired  no  other  result  than  that  the  issue  should 
be  squarely  fought  out  to  what  he  regarded  as  its  legitimate 
conclusion,  and  used  every  argument  his  eloquence  could  sug» 


THE    QUEST   FOR    FORnTSE.  69 

gest  against  flight,  diplomacy,  strategy,  or  any  other  ignoble 
substitute  for  battle. 

Preparations  for  hostilities  were,  therefore,  pushed  with  the 
utmost  speed ;  preparations  intelligible  enough  to  all  the  assem 
bly  save  poor  Mrs.  Armstrong,  who  looked  on  them  with  a 
dubiousness  which,  as  they  progressed,  gave  place  to  terror. 
Her  appeals  to  the  two  young  women  failing  to  elicit  satisfac 
tory  replies,  she  had  recourse  to  Luke.  "  What  on  airth  is  the 
matter,  Luke  ?  I  knew  that  drefful  heathen  was  come  for  no 
good;  but  do  they  really  expect  we  shall  git  attackted?  Oh, 
Lord!  oh,  Lord!  nothinj  never  did  come  but  harm  from  havin' 
to  do  with  the  Evil  One  !  What  will  they  do  with  us  if  they 
take  us  all  prisoners  ?  And  these  'ere  poor  gals,  too !  Alter 
all,  it's  lucky  I  didn't  bring  my  chiny  1" 

Luke  reassured  his  mother  as  well  as  he  could ;  there  was  by 
no  means  a  certainty  of  their  being  attacked — only  a  chance ; 
but  it  was  well  to  be  ready  for  anything.  The  chief  was  very 
friendly,  and  had  come  to  warn  and  not  to  harm  them ;  more 
over,  he  had  others  of  his  tribe  near  at  hand,  who,  in  case  of 
need,  would  fly  to  their  assistance.  These  assurances  were  re 
ceived  with  obstinate  incredulity ;  so  Mary  Anne,  who  had  been 
followed  everywhere  during  the  explanation  by  Luke's  admiring 
eyes,  relieved  herself  and  him  by  coming  to  his  support. 

Meanwhile,  sturdy  Doctor  Landale  was  getting  ready  lint  and 
bandages  with  the  same  equanimity  that  marked  his  daily  obser 
vations.  "You'd  better  learn  how  to  apply  a  tourniquet,"  he 
remarked  to  Hugh  Gifford,  "in  case  I  happen  to  get  hit.  These 
Western  men  have  remedies  of  their  own  for  most  simple  hurts, 
but  they've  nothing  to  substitute  for  that. V  And  Hugh  did  learn 
it  as  well  as  was  possible  in  the  hour  which  elapsed  before  break 
fast.  When  that  hour  arrived,  the  dispositions  for  defending  the 
camp  were  tolerably  complete.  Washashaco,  truly,  had  some 
suggestions  to  make,  but  it  would  answer,  he  said,  if  they  were 
carried  into  effect  after  the  meal.  The  sentries  were  now  called 
in,  to  be  replaced  as  quickly  as  possible  by  others. 

"All  here,"  said  Seth  Armstrong,  "all  here,  and,  thank  God, 
all  safe!"  as  the  different  members  of  the  little  company  came 
flocking  in  toward  the  kettles.  The  worthy  man  paused  a  little, 
meaning  to  say  a  word  or  two  in  more  formal  recognition  of  the 
mercies  they  enjoyed,  and  a  strange  murmur  arose  among  the 
assemblage.  "  All  here,"  somebody  repeated.  "  Not  all,  I 
reckon,  unless  twelve's  the  same  as  thirteen!"  And,  "Who 
is  it,  who  is  if?"  ran  from  one  to  the  other,  as  each  looked 
at  and .  counted  his  neighbors.  It  was  one  of  the  young 


70 


MARIAN  ROOKE 


Irishmen,  one  of  the  laborers  whom  Seth  had  engaged  at  St. 
Louis. 

"Why,"  cried  Luke,  "  Dennis  was  placed  sentry  at  two  o'clock 
at  the  ford!" 

"So  he  Avas,"  exclaimed  Gilford,  "and  he  was 'there,  safe 
enough,  at  daybreak,  for  I  saw  him.  I  do  believe,"  he  continued, 
as  his  thoughts  flew  back  over  the  time,  "I  do  believe  the  fellow 
was  asleep,  though!" 

"Asleep  I"  repeated  Seth;  "then  like  enough  he's  asleep  still. 
That  won't  do!" 

"  Do,"  cried  Dick  Railes,  "  I  should  think  not ;  if  men's  goiii' 
to  sleep  on  watch,  with,  the  country  swarmin'  with  red-skins, 
we'll  git  shot  off  like  so  many  woodchucks  !" 

"  Come,"  said  Gifford,  rising,  "let's  hear  what  he's  got  to  say; 
perhaps  the  poor  fellow's  unwell." 

"Ay,  ay,"  echoed  Seth,  kindly,  "we'll  go  and  see  what  he 
says  for  himself." 

The  men  started  for  the  ford ;  only  a  short  twenty  rods  to  go. 
The  sentinel  was  still  there ;  still  leaning  against  the  tree,  with 
his  arms  folded  across  his  breast,  and  the  clasped  riile  resting  on 
the  ground. 

"Dennis!"  cried  Luke,  as  they  approached.  There  was  no 
reply,  and  the  party  quickened  their  steps  until  they  stood  by  the 
man's  side.  He  was  lashed  to  the  tree  by  a  cord  passing  around 
the  waist ;  a  knife  was  buried  to  the  hilt  in  his  side,  and  the  man 
was  dead — stone  dead. 

All  gazed  for  a  moment  in  silent  horror;  then  a  shout  went 
up: 

"  Washashaco !     The  Chief!     The  Indian  !     Where  is  he  r 

But  the  Delaware  had  vanished,  and  was  nowhere  to  be  found. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  day  was  passed  by  the  wayfarers  in  gloom  and  anxiety. 
It  was  evident  that  they  were  surrounded  by  unseen  enemies,  and 
where  the  stroke  would  fall  next  none  could  tell.  The  sudden  dis 
appearance  of  the  Delaware  naturally  led  to  the  belief  that  he 
was  knowing  to  the  assassination  of  the  unfortunate  sentry,  if, 
indeed,  he  was  not  himself  the  actual  murderer.  But,  if  so,  why 
should  he  have  come  into  their  midst  to  warn  them  of  corning 


THE    QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  71 

danger  ?  And  if  such  a  course  had  been  adopted  with  the  sinister 
design  alone  of  learning  their  numbers  and  means  of  defence, 
why,  after  obtaining  that  knowledge,  should  he  have  returned, 
thus  incurring  the  risk  of  being  set  face  to  face  with  the  corpse  of 
Dennis,  and  being  charged  with  his  murder  ?  The  latter  objec 
tion  was  most  conclusive  to  Hugh  Gifford,  as  opposed  to  the 
hypothesis  of  the  Indian's  guilt ;  for  he  remembered  his  con 
versation  with  him  in  the  morning,  which  took  place  within  easy 
hail  of  the  spot  where  Dennis  stood,  and  when  there  was  each 
moment  the  greatest  probability  of  the  deed  being  detected.  Cer 
tainly  it  seemed  strange  that  AVashashaco  should  have  made  lu's 
way  across  the  ford  in  the  morning  unchallenged  by  Dennis,  who 
stood  close  by  it ;  but  might  not  the  deed  have  been  wrought  as 
probably  before  the  chief  set  out  as  afterwards,  and  might  not 
the  apathy  of  the  sentry  be  thus  accounted  for  ?  On  the  other 
hand,  if  Washashaco  were  innocent,  why  should  he  throw  a  cloud 
over  his  conduct,  by  absconding  without  a  word  of  explanation 
at  the  critical  moment  of  discovery '? 

These  were  doubts  and  fears  not  easy  to  be  resolved,  and  the 
more  they  were  canvassed  the  more  threatening  the  prospect 
appeared  for  the  future.  Upon  one  point  all  were  agreed,  which 
was  that  they  must  henceforth  practise  redoubled  vigilance,  and 
leave  no  precaution  unemployed  which  might  avert  the  further 
reduction  of  their  scanty  numbers.  To  this  end  they  determined 
that  it  would  be  imprudent  to  send  out  scouts,  and  that,  should  they 
remain  unmolested  throughout  the  day,  the  most  intelligent  and 
wary  of  the  party  should  serve  that  night  as  sentinels.  For  it 
was  remarkable  that  no  one  could  be  found  who  had  heard  the 
slightest  noise  during  the  night  before.  Not  a  growl  from 
Lion,  usually  so  watchful,  not  the  rustle  of  a  leaf  had  served 
as  a  warning  sign*  or  had  betrayed  the  stealthy  foot  of  the  assassin. 
They  must,  therefore,  watch  to-night  with  increased  wariness  if 
they  would  not  share  the  fate  of  their  luckless  companion. 

"  As  to  gittin'  shot  in  a  fair  fight,"  growled  Nahuni  Pelter  in 
his  deep  bass  voice,  "every  man  expects  it,  I  reckon,  and  jest 
travels  on  his  chances.  But  this  here  skewerin'  of  ye  onawares 
in  the  dark  rakes  me  down  altogether.  It  ain't  my  style,  that 
ain't.  I  don't  s'pose  the  poor  Paddy  was  good  for  much,"  he 
continued,  chewing  ponderously,  and  ejecting  regretful  spirts  of 
tobacco-juice.  "  I  don't  s'pose  the  poor  cuss  had  much  grit  in 
him  for  a  bush  fight ;  but  I'm  sorry  for  him,  I  am ;  and  a  riiie  less 
is  a  rifle  less  when  we  come  to  the  scratch." 

Dr.  Landale,  who  was  gliding  about  sounding  the  spirit  and 
temper  of  the  men  just  as  he  would  feel  their  pulses,  questioned 


72  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

Pelter  as  to  how  he  thought,  in  the  event  of  a  fight,  the  men 
would  behave. 

"  Think  they'll  fight  ?  Wall,  I  reckon  all  the  Westerners  will. 
They're  born  fighters,  they  are.  I  don't  feel  so  stiff  about  the 
Yanks ;  there's  two  kinds  o'  Yanks,  wooden  nutmeg  Yanks,  and 
book-learnin'  ones ;  I  don't  think  there's  much  fight  in  neither 
of  'em.  Still  they  may  do  well  enough  behind  the  wagons ;  and 
ef  they  don't  run  at  the  fust  fire  they'll  be  apt  to  be  darned  ob 
stinate  arterwards.  But  the  Western  boys  there,  Luke  and  Dick 

in  pettikilar,  they'll  fight  like  h ,  they  will.     And  I  calkilate 

I'm  good  for  about  ten  Injins,  I  am :  that's  so." 

With  which  comfortable  assurance  the  giant  launched  forth  a 
fresh  cataract  of  saliva,  and  stalked  away  to  prepare  his  arma 
ment.  Hugh  Gifford  was  more  generous  in  his  estimate  of 
Nahum's  prowess. 

"  These  Western  country  men  of  yours  brag  so  consumedly," 
observed  the  doctor,  "that  by  all  accepted  rules  of  probability 
and  precedent  they  should  prove  feeble  if  not  cowardly  in  action." 

"  I  firmly  believe  they  will  do  all  that  men  can  do,"  answered 
Hugh.  "  if  not  all  that  they  promise.  This  inflated  talk  is  a  mere 
matter  of  habit,  and  no  true  test  of  the  nature  of  the  man.  Brag 
garts  are  often  brave  men  on  this  side  the  water,  as,  I  fancy,  cox 
combs  often  are  on  the  other.  But  I  believe  there  are  no  people 
about  whom  old-fashioned  saws  and  accepted  axioms  are  more 
frequently  falsified  than  the  Americans." 

"Humph,"  grumbled  the  doctor;  "that  means,  I  suppose, 
that  they  are  of  stuff  so  different  from  ordinary  mortals  that  they 
are  not  to  be  judged  by  the  laws  which  history  and  experience 
have  established — a  modern  chosen  people  made  to  order,  who 
are  to  have  new  codes  for  social  organization,  new  philosophies 
for  intellectual  development,  because  the  humdrum  affairs  which 
have  taken  some  thousands  of  years  to  grow  are  not  good  enough 
for  their  purpose,  eh  ?" 

"  No,"  said  Hugh,  smiling,  "  only  that  the  conditions  which 
surround  them — intellectual  and  physical — are  so  very  different 
from  those  of  any  people  of  whom  we  have  any  authentic  record, 
that  we  must  not  expect  their  progress  or  achievements  to  pre 
cisely  square  with  those  of  any  people  whose  histories  we  pos 
sess." 

"We're  like  to  hev  a  hard  time  on't,  gentlemen,"  said  Seth, 
coming  up.  "  I  did  hope  to  git  across  all  safe  and  sound  when 
we'd  come  so  far  as  the  mountains ;  but  we've  had  an  uncommon 
easy  journey,  and  I  suppose  it  weren't  in  the  nature  of  things 
that  the  path  should  be  allers  smooth.  This  poor  lad  who's  gone 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  id 

may  be's  only  a  day  before  all  the  rest  on  us;  but  we  must  try 
and  do  our  dooty  like  men.  I  shouldn't  kear  so  much."  he 
added  in  a  lower  tone,  "if  it  weren't  for  the  women  folks.  It; 
hurts  me  pooty  bad  to  see  mother  goiiv  on  as  she  is  now — and 
them  two  poor  gals  ain't  fit  either  to  die  or  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  them  devils  of  Injuns.  Howsumever,  please  God,  they  shan't 
if  we  can  help  it." 

••Amen."  said  Hugh  and  the  doctor,  while  Seth  passed  on, 
busy  as  he  was  in  planning  and  arranging  to  make  the  strong 
hold  as  secure  as  possible.  The  others  stood  for  a  moment  in 
silence,  when  the  doctor  spoke  :  ';  The  good  man  doesn't  see 
that  the  presence  of  the  women  makes  his  camp  twice  as  strong 
as  it  would  otherwise  be.  What  think  you '?" 

5*1?     I  am  sure  cf  it." 

"  I  suppose,"  continued  the  doctor,  u  that  there's  no  great 
chance  of  availing  ourselves  of  poor  Ichabod's  misfortune?" 
•  '•  I  fear  not ;  for  whether  he  plays  us  true  or  false,  the  chief's 
argument  on  that  subject  seems  unanswerable.  The  Pawnees 
will,  without  doubt,  attempt  a  surprise,  and,  in  that  case,  it  mat 
ters  little  whether  he  be  with  us  or  not,  except  that  he  knows 
how  to  pull  a  trigger.  But  come,  we  should  do  our  share  toward 
the  fortifications." 

The  two  men  then  followed  Seth  to  the  line  of  the  wagons, 
which  were  now  connected,  after  a  fashion,  by  a  hasty  abattis 
made  of  such  rough  brush  and  bits  of  timber  as  the  men  had 
been  able  to  collect,  and  strengthened  by  ox  chains  interlaced 
through  them.  Dick  Railes  and  Xahum  Pelter,  while  approv 
ing  this  arrangement,  did  not  fail  to  warn  the  others  that  the 
Indians,  should  they  attempt  an  assault,  would  certainly  try  to 
set  tin's  barricade  on  fire  as  a  preliminary,  but  all  hoped  that,  with 
the  aid  of  their  revolvers,  they  could  make  an  approach  too  haz 
ardous  for  them  to  face  its  risks.  All  the  extra  guns  and  pistols 
were  carefully  o::amined,  loaded,  and  placed  in  Castle  Armstrong, 
while  the  females — including  Mrs.  Armstrong,  who  was  now 
aroused  to  the  necessity  of  exertion — were  actively  engaged  in 
rehearsing  and  making  sure  of  their  accomplishment  of  rapid 
loading.  To  guard  against  the  dangers  of  fire,  all  the  pails  and 
other  utensils  they  possessed  were  now  filled  with  water  at  the 
river,  and  placed  at  convenient  points  under  the  wagons. 

In  such  labors  the  day  wore  on,  and  the  sun  again  disappeared 
in  the  west,  yet  still  there  were  no  signs  of  an  enemy.  Every 
one  appeared,  however,  to  feel  that  the  coming  night 'was  the 
most  critical  period  of  their  fate,  and  a  thrill  of  anxiety  ran 
through  the  little  party  when  the  time  arrived  for  placing  the 
4 


74  MARIAN   EOOKE  ;    OR, 

sentries.  Somewhat  to  the  surprise  of  the  western  men,  and  yet 
to  the  obvious  satisfaction  of  most  of  the  company,  Hugh  Giflord 
insisted  upon  being  placed  at  the  perilous  station  by  the  ford, 
where  poor  Dennis  had  lost  his  lifo  the  night  before.  "  The  place 
is  important,"  he  said.  "  I  feel  no  need  of  sleep,  and  my  mind 
will  be  the  easier  for  being  there."  It  was  finally  agreed  that 
Luke  and  Dr.  Landale  should  hold  the  post  until  two  o'clock,  and 
that  they  should  then  be  relieved  by  Gilford  and  Ike — Seth  Arm 
strong  insisting  that  at  that  particular  place,  at  least,  there  should 
be  two  sentries  for  the  night.  There  were  three  others  posted 
along  the  line 'of  the  w^agons,  and  as  Seth  inwardly  resolved  that 
some  one  in  addition  should  remain  awake  in  the  Castle,  he  felt 
tolerably  secure  against  surprise. 

In  accordance  with  these  arrangements,  Hugh  determined  to 
force  himself,  if  possible,  to  sleep  in  the  early  part  of  the  night, 
in  order  that  he  might  bo  thoroughly  wakeful  at  the  dangerous 
period  of  his  watch.  Whether  he  saw  a  design  shaping  itself  in 
the  speaking  face  of  Mary  Anne  when  she  heard  that  he  and  Ike 
wero  to  be  on  watch  after  two  or  no  is  doubtful ;  but  it  is  certain 
that,  after  the  band  had  shared  their  unusually  quiet  and  thought 
ful  supper,  he  found  his  way  to  where  the  girl  was  standing  by  the 
Castle,  looking  sorrowfully  upon  the  ground.  He  laid  Ms  hand 
upon  her  arm. 

"  You  will  not  leave  the  Castle  to-night,  Miss  Armstrong." 

"  You  are  sure  I  meant  to  do  so,  then  ? — But  why  not?" 

"  There  is  danger  in  it — real  danger — to  which  you  must  not 
be  exposed." 

"And  you?" 

"It  is  my  duty — some  one  must  do  n>— I  as  well  as  others. 
But  on  you  there  is  no  such  demand." 

"I  have  no  fear." 

"But  I  have — on  your  account — and  I  beg  you  not  to  come." 

"You  particularly  wish  me  not  to  come?" 

"Yes — I  request — I  beg  it." 
,     "  Then  I  will  not.     Only "  g 

"Only  what?" 

"  Promise  me  one  thing." 

"What  is  it?" 

"  Nay,  but  promise." 

"  Well  then,  I  promise." 

"That  you  will  run  no  needless  risks — that  you  will  take  care 
of  yourself." 

"  I  am  sure  to  do  that,"  said  Hugh,  smiling. 

"Ah,  you  are  jesting — you  are  not  sincere.     Remember  the 


TIIE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  75 

promise  should  be  as  grave,  as  fully  meant  to  be  implicitly  kept 
— as  mine.'' 

"  Indeed  it  shall  be,  then." 

"  Good  night  then — and — and — Heaven  guard  you!" 

The  voice  was  tremulous,  and  Hugh  turned  quickly  in  some 
surprise  to  look  at  Mary  Anne's  face;  yet  even  had  she  stood  still 
he  would  scarce  have  seen  it,  for  the  dusk  was  gathering  fast : 
but  she  had  fled  away  and  joined  Mrs.  Armstrong  and  Kitty  in 
the  Castle.  So  Hugh  returned  to  the  camp  fire,  and  wrapping 
himself  in  a  buffalo  skin,  lay  down  to  sleep.  His  mind  was 
ranging  rapidly  over  many  and  opposite  themes,  and  he  found 
it  no  easy  task  to  forget  his  consciousness  ;  but  with  perseverance 
he  at  last  succeeded,  and  fell  into  a  gentle  slumber. 

At  the  appointed  hour  he  was  awakened  by  Luke  : 

"I  wouldn't  rouse  ye,  Mr.  Gilford,  but  I  suppose  we  must  be 
strict  now  in  obeying  orders." 

"  Quite  right.     All  has  been  quiet,  I  suppose  ?" 

"Not  a  critter  stirring;  not  so  much  as  a  night  hawk  or  an 
owl.  The  doctor's  been  niakin'  what  he  calls  astral  observa 
tions." 

"  Where  are  Ike  and  Lion?" 

"  Oh,  they've  been  up  this  half-hour  watchin'  the  doctor.  I 
think  Ike's  got  an  idea  that  he  ought  to  keep  about  so  that  if  the 
Injuns  come  he  could  pack  'em  off  as  he  did  afore." 

Hugh  shook  his  head.  "They  won't  come  in  a  way  to  leave 
time  for  parley.  That  chance  before  was  one  in  a  thousand. 
We're  no  right  to  count  on  such  luck  twice." 

"No,  I  reckon  not.  I  do  wish  some  more  of  our  folks  would 
happen  by.  That  would  be  the  best  luck  that  could  befall  us  now. 
It  makes  my  heart  sick,  Mr.  Gifford,  when  I  think  of  mother  and 
those  two  gurls,  and  that  we  mayn't  be  strong  enough  to  defend 
'em." 

"  We  mustn't  think  of  that — we  icill  be  strong  enough." 

"  S/ie  dropped  this  out  of  her  bosom  by  the  wagon  this  even 
ing,  and  as  I  was  going  to  be  where  poor  Dennis  met  his  death, 
I  thought  it  might  serve  as  a  sort  of  talisman  like,  and  that  she 
wouldn't  miss  it  until  to-morrow  morning,  so  I  put  it  here  over 
my  heart." 

As  he  spoke,  Luke  held  in  his  hand  a  small,  morocco-bound 
volume.  Gifford  took  it  mechanically  and  looked  at  it  by  the 
light  of  the  fire.  It  was  a  Testament,  and  as  he  turned  it  over 
it  opened  at  the  fly-leaf,  and  he  saw  there  written,  in  small  but 
distinct  characters,  the  name — 


7G  MAJRIAN  EOOKE;  OR, 

And  as  he  returned  the  volume,  by  the  same  light  of  the  fire 
he  looked  into  Luke  Armstrong's  honest  eyes,  and  then  Gilford 
saw  for  the  first  time  that  Luke  loved  her. 

"Strange,"  he  thought,  as  he  went  to  his  watch,  "passing 
strange.  And  yet,. why  strange?  Is  it  remarkable  that  a  fine, 
honest,  young  fellow,  strong,  comely,  well-principled,  should  fall  in 
love  with  a  beautiful  girl — a  poor  girl,  too,  with  nothing  but  her  own 
exertions  to  depend  upon  for  subsistence  ?  Is  it  strange  that  Luke 
should  love,  ay,  or  marry  her  1  Is  it  not  rather  natural  ?  True, 
there  may  be  something  incongruous  between  their  manners, 
their  educations ;  but  in  a  new  country  where  the  strong  arm  and 
the  manly  spirit  are  the  main  stays  for  protection  and  sustenance, 
what  matter  ?" 

So  reasoned  Hugh  as  he  stood  in  the  starlight,  glancing  up  and 
down  the  stream,  now  looking  before  him,  now  behind,  ever 
vigilant  as  feeling  the  deep  responsibility  of  his  trust. 

"What  matter?"  he  mused,  his  thoughts  running  into  a  fre 
quent  channel ;  "what  matter  for  culture,  reflection,  intellectual 
graces  ?  In  a  country  like  this  it  is  the  capacity  for  rude  toil,  the 
power  which  accumulates  and  retains  material  things  alone  which 
is  desirable,  for  it  alone  gains  leadership  or  distinction.  What 
matter  ?  That  a  woman  fall  of  refinement  and  rich  in  feminine 
delicacy,  highly  educated,  keenly  appreciative,  should  love  and 
wed  a  rustic,  hard-handed  ploughman  1  A  mere  boor !  No,  no, 
that  is  unjust ;  Luke  is  not  so  bad  as  that ;  a  good  fellow  with 
a  sound  heart  and  plenty  of  common  sense,  if  not  much  book- 
learning  ;  and,  perhaps,  after  all  she  may  fancy  him ;  stranger 
things  have  been." 

Here  Hugh  began  to  think  that  somehow  it  did  matter,  not 
withstanding  his  subtle  arguments  to  the  contrary.  He  fell  to 
envying  Luke. 

"Something  to  love — something  to  love!  What  a  hope, 
'what  a  daily  pleasure,  Avhat  a  nightly  consolation !"  His  eye  fell 
on  Ike  and  Lion  sitting  together  at  a  little,  distance.  The  man's 
arm  was  thrown  caressingly  round  the  dog's  neck,  and  he  seemed 
to  be  whispering  to  the  creature,  as,  indeed,  lie  often  did. 
"There;  what  a  comfort  does  that  poor  fellow  hourly  enjoy  in 
the  affection  even  of  a  dumb  beast,  while  I " 

Here  his  conscience  gave  the  dreamer  a  sudden  twinge ;  for 
was  he  not  also  blessed — blessed  with  the  love  of  Virginia  ? 

A  cool  night  breeze  came  hurtling  and  sighing  through  the 
melancholy  trees,  and  seemed  to  answer  the  question  sadly 
enough.  At  the  same  moment  Gifibrd  heard  a'  muffled  cry,  like 
the  distant  shriek  of  an  owl.  ' '  Some  signal,  perhaps, "  he  thought, 


THE   QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  77 

nnd  he  grasped  his  rifle  more  tightly  and  peered  more  anxiously 
into  the  obscure  around  him. 

A  log  came  floating  gently  down  the  river,  and  slid  into  the 
shadow  of  the  bank  beneath  the  spot  where  he  stood.  The  next 
instant  a  figure  rose  as  if  from  under  his  feet,  and,  as  swiftly, 
Gilford's  rifle  wa-s  at  its  breast. 

••My  brother  will  not  shoot,"  said  the  calm,  deep  voice  of 
Washashaco,  "  he  will  not  fire  upon  the  friend  who  trusts  him." 

The  young  man  hesitated :  i%  One  of  our  number  has  been 
treacherously  slain  when  Washashaco  was  our  guest ;  when  we 
discovered  the  crime,  Washashaco  had  lied  away,  and  could  no 
longer  be  found." 

"He  knew  that  his  white  brothers  might  doubt  him,"  re 
turned  the  chief,  quietly  ;  "  but  when  he  saw  that  the  Pawnees 
were  at  hand,  it  was  needful  that  he  should  at  once  find  and  talk 
to  his  braves.  There  is  little  time  to  tell  stories  on  the  war-path." 

"  You  say  that  the  Pawnees  arc  at  hand  f ' 

"  One  of  their  scouts  made  his  way  hither  unperceived  by 
the  Delawares.     He  crept  on  the  ground  like  a  snake,  and  sur 
prised  the  white  man  who  stood  here  last  night.     Something . 
frightened  him,  and  he  crawled  away,  taking  neither  his  scalp 
nor  hLs  rifle." 

"  When  knew  you  that  this  deed  had  been  done  ?" 

i;  Washashaco  saw  that  the  man  was  missing  when  his  brothers 
assembled  to  eat.  He  passed  quickly  this  way,  and  found 
him  dead  :  then  he  crossed  the  river,  and  struck  the  trail  of  the 
Indian  who  had  slain  him :  at  noon  he  came  up  with  him  in 
the  mountains  and  took  his  scalp.  Behold!" 

Giiiord  turned  with  disgust  from  the  ghastly  trophy.  "And 
where  are  my  brother's  young  men — the  braves  of  his  tribe  ?" 

"  One  is  close  at  hand,  th.e  others  a  few  miles  away." 

"  And  the  Pawnees  ?" 

"  About  as  far,  but  in  another  direction.  My  braves  thought 
they  would  remain  for  another  day  to  rest,  but  the  one  who  has 
come  thinks  otherwise  ;  he  thinks  they  will  be  here  to-morrow. 
Washashaco,  therefore,  sent  him  at  sunset  to  bring  up  his  war 
riors  at  once." 

is  How  numerous  are  the  enemy  f ' 

"They  are  very  many.  My  brothers  will  have  to  fi^ht  hard.  But 
they  can  depend  upon  the  Delaware?.  I  go  to  lead  them  hither." 

Gilford  paused  and  reflected.  He  was  in  doubt  as  to  the 
wisest  course  for  him  to  pursue.  Ought  he  not,  now  that  the 
chief  was  in  their  power,  to  insist  on  his  remaining  in  the  camp, 
at  least  until  the  imminence  of  the  danger  was  past,  or  until 


78  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

further  investigation  could  be  made  as  to  the  murder  of  the 
sentry  ? 

' '  Will  it  not  be  better  for  Washashaco  to  remain  with  his 
white  brothers  ?  They  will  then  be  satisfied  of  his  friendship, 
and  that  he  had  no  hand  in  the  killing  of  their  friend.  He  can 
light  here  with  his  brothers,  if  they  are  attacked,  as'  well  as 
elsewhere.  Will  he  not  remain  f 

"  The  Delawares  will  not  fight  well  without  their  chief, 
Washashaco  must  go  to  lead  them." 

Hugh  again  hesitated.  "  His  brothers  thought  it  unfriendly 
of  Washashaco  to  leave  them  without  farewell  at  the  moment 
they  had  lost  one  of  their  number."  lie  stopped,  not  knowing 
exactly  how  to  suggest  a  doubt  without  giving  offence. 

"  Washashaco' s  ears  are  open." 

"  I  may  be  blamed  for  not  urging  him  to  remain  until  they 
can  see  him  to  shake  hands  with  him  in  the  morning." 

The  Indian  looked  intently  on  the  speaker  with  his  dark, 
glittering  eyes  :  "  My  brother  doubts  the  good  faith  of  Washa 
shaco  '?" 

"  I  do  not ;  but  others,  perhaps " 

"  Listen,"  said  the  red  man  sternly.  "I  go  to  bring  my 
braves  to  the  help  of  my  white  brothers.  I  will  not  remain  in 
their  camp.  I  will  shake  hands  with  you  in  sign  of  faith  with 
all.  A  chief  of  the  Delawares  cannot  lie.  I  have  spoken." 

He  stretched  forth  his  hand,  as  he  concluded,  with  an  air  of 
command  so  princely,  that  Gifford  could  not  repress  a  thrill  of 
secret  admiration.  During  the  colloquy,  too,  the  dog  Lion  had 
approached,  and,  recognizing  Washashaco,  gave  every  indica 
tion  of  pleasure  and  confidence.  The  Indian  looked  down  and 
smiled. 

"Be  it  so,"  said  Gifford,  with  decision,  and  grasping  the 
proffered  hand  ;  "  I  will  tell  my  friends  that  the  Delaware  chief 
will  not  fail  them  in  their  hour  of  need." 

"  Let  them  be  watchful  as  the  lynx,  for  the  Pawnees  are  many 
and  cunning.  The  battle  may  be  long  and  fierce,  but  the  vic 
tory  will  be  the  more  glorious.  I  go." 

"  Farewell,  then,  brave  warrior.  The  battle  has  many 
chances,  and  we  may  meet  no  more." 

"  The  Delawares  are  taught  to  carry  their  lives  in  their  hands, 
and  they  know  that  their  time  on  the  earth  is  short,"  said  Wash 
ashaco,  solemnly.  "  The  Great  Spirit  has  ordered  that  my  peo 
ple  shall  disappear  one  by  one  from  their  old  homes,  and  that 
the  children  of  the  white  man  shall  take  their  places.  A  few 
years,  more  or  less,  matter  little  to  Washashaco  or  his  braves, 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  79 

and,  if  they  die  gloriously,  they  care  not  when  their  hour  may 
come.  They  may  die  ;  but  they  -will  remain  faithful  to  the 
mighty  memories  of  their  race.  The  children  of  the  Lenni  Le- 
nape  will  not  give  their  fathers  cause  to  blush  in  the  happy 
hunting-grounds.  To  the  last,  the  narne  of  the  Delaware, 
driven  from  his  lands,  broken  in  numbers,  fading  away,  like  a 
mist,  though  he  is,  shah1  be  respected  and  terrible  among  all  the 
tribes  of  the  red  men  1  Their  footsteps  are  far  from  their  ancient 
home,  and  their  bones  will  whiten  the  prairie  a  long  way  from 
the  graves  of  then*  fathers ;  but  their  spirits  will  dwell  in  the 
land  for  ever  I  They  will  roam  at  will  through  the  forests  aud 
the  plains,  they  will  lie  on  the  banks  of  their  own  loved  rivers, 
and  listen  to  the  sound  of  the  mighty  cataract !  And  they  will 
wander  freely  over  the  hunting-grounds,  which  once  were  theirs, 
long  after  the  last  red  man  has  been  taken  from  the  earth,  and  the 
memory  even  of  the  race  which  succeeds  him  shall  be  forgotten !" 
The  chieftain  was  silent,  and  ere  the  last  deep  tones  of  his 
voice  had  ceased  to  vibrate,  he  had  folded  his  blanket  about  him, 
and  his  tall  form  had  glided,  swiftly  away  into  the  darkness. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  sun  was  some  •hours  high,  and  the  h'ttle  band  were  await 
ing,  in  sullen  expectancy,  the  onset  of  the  savages,  which  now 
seemed  inevitable.  For  since  daybreak  they  had  seen,  at  several 
points  among  the  hills  behind  them,  curling  puffs  of  smoke, 
which  not  only  told  that  the  Indians  were  near,  but,  what  was 
still  more  ominous,  that  their  numbers  made  concealment  need 
less. 

The  sun  was  some  hours  high,  yet  he  gave  only  an  Imperfect 
light.  It  was  one  of  those  heavy,  vaporous  atmospheres  which, 
when  we  feel  they  carry  no  moisture,  seem  so  inexplicable ;  an 
atmosphere  often  seen  on  deserts  where  no  water  is,  or  in  climates 
which  have  dry  seasons  long  protracted.  The  sun's  rays,  strug 
gling  through  the  murky  air,  gave  a  sickly,  yellow  light,  and 
the  luminary  himself  looked  a  dull,  red  ball. 

The  mountains  east  of  the  camp  appeared  shadowy  and  dim; 
the  clear  outlines  and  tangible  colors,  seen  by  the  party  on  the 
hopeful  eve  when  they  descended  to  the  banks  of  the  stream, 
were  no  longer  visible.  No  more  sunny  slopes  and  reaching 


80  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

vistas ;  no  more  purple  and  blue  and  gold ;  nothing  but  huge, 
indistinct  masses,  suffused  with  a  dreary  monotone  of  grayish  red. 

The  plains  on  the  west  looked  arid  and  obscure.  They  were 
desolate  enough  to  the  eye  at  the  best  of  times,  but  the  vast 
stretch  now  appeared  inexpressibly  sombre ;  and  the  long  waves 
of  soil,  and  the  scanty  shrubs  which  crested  them,  were  all  tinged 
alike  with  the  pervading  muddy  hue. 

"ISTahum  thinks  there  must  be  an  awful  sight  of  'em,"  half 
whispered  Seth  Armstrong  to  GhTord,  as  they  stood  on  the  small 
eminence  which  overlooked  then*  line  of  defence.  His  grizzled 
face  was  lined  with  anxiety,  and  his  voice  came  a  little  thick  as 
he  spoke. 

"  Few  or  many,  we  must  fight  them,"  replied  Hugh  with  a 
white  light  in  his  eye,  which  always  came  there  in  moments  of 
resolution.  "We've  done  all  that  men  can  do  in  the  way  of 
preparation,  and  we  must  look  to  our  own  right  arms — and 
God's  help — for  the  rest." 

"His  will  be  done,"  said  Seth  solemnly.  "I  would  ha* 
liked  to  git  across  in  peace,  but  if  so  be  that  we  must  fight  for't, 
why.  fight  let  it  be." 

"  They  don't  seem  to  vally  us  no  more'n  so  many  beavers," 
observed  Nahum  Pelter,  sauntering  up  to  the  group  on  the  hil 
lock.  The  man  was  chewing  more  rapidly  than  usual,  but  this 
was  the  only  mark  he  showed  of  sharing  any  uncommon  interest. 
"I  shouldn't  wonder  if  there  was  a  hundred  of  the  red  devils." 

"Pray  Heaven  not,"  exclaimed  the  doctor  fervently,  "or 
we've  had  our  last  supper."  • 

"  Time  enough  to  cry  when  we're  hurt.  Ten  good  men,  with 
plenty  o'  grit  and  a,  little  luck,  have  whipped  a  hundred  red  skins 
afore  now.  Shoot  low,  shoot  steady,  never  throw  away  a  shot, 
and  allers  have  some  loads  in  reserve ;  them's  the  pints  we  want 
to  look  to." 

"And  so  we  will,"  cried  Luke  cheerfully.  "Who  knows? 
If  the  Indians  get  a  sharp  repulse  at  the  beginnin'  of  a  fight, 
I've  heard  they'll  often  give  it  up  and  leave.  Let's  hope  it  '11  be 
so  now." 

"They  ain't  like  to  quit,"  said  Dick  Railes,  "onlessthey 
think  that  by  hangin'  on,  others  may  come  up  and  take  a  hand, 
and  so  add  to  the  chances  agin  'em.  They  know  darned  well 
how  onlikely  it  is  for  us  to  git  help  while  the  scrimmage's  goin' 
on."  "  . 

"  You  forget  the  Delawares,"  remarked  Gifford. 

"There's  the  pint.  Accordin'  to  what  the  chief  said  to  you, 
he  didn't  think  the  Pawnees  would  be  here  for  a  hull  day  j  and 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  81 

look  at  'cm !     Xow,  if  his  men  don't  come  up  soon,  it  looks  to 
me  as  though  we'd  hev  to  tight  without  'em.1' 

"Depend  upon  it,  he  knows  the  danger,  and  will  strain  every 
nerve  to  forestall  it.  But  look !  They  will  give  us  little  time, 
I  fear!" 

All  eyes  were  turned  in  the  direction  indicated,  and  as  speed 
ily  saw  how  grave  was  the  cause  for  the  speaker's  apprehen 
sion.  A  large  body  of  Indians  appeared  on  horseback  in  their 
rear,  and  were  slowly  winding  down  the  defile  taken  by  their 
own  train  iii  descending  the  foot  hills.  They  made  no  attempt 
at  concealment,  and  rode  in  irregular  order,  as  if  perfectly  at 
ease,  and  confident  of  carrying  out  their  designs.  At  the  dis 
tance,  nothing  more  could  be  discerned  than  that  they  were 
about  twenty-five  in  number,  and  that,  although  some  carried 
fire-arms,  the  majority  seemed  only  provided  with  lances  and 
bows  and  arrows. 

A  feeling  of  relief  came  over  the  hearts  and  faces  of  the 
white  men,  as  each  thus  descried,  and  drew  his  conclusions  from 
these  details  of  the  approaching  array. 

"Come,"  said  Seth,  drawing  a  long  breath,  "cornel  If 
these  be  all  we've  got  to  handle,  we  mayn't  have  sech  a  bad 
lookout  as  we  thought  for." 

Nahum  Pelter  shook  his  head.  "  There  never  was  Injun  yet 
who  showed  his  hand  like  that  without  hidin'  somethin'  he 
didn't  show.  They've  jest  divided  their  gang,  that's  what  it  is, 
and  they're  goin'  to  £lose  us  in  all  round,  same  as  they  do  the 
buiftlo  1" 

An  exclamation  burst  from  the  doctor  as  Pelter  finished,  which 
drew  attention  from  the  east  to  the  west. 

••Look!  look  there!" 

Far  away  on  the  plain  there  appeared  a  knot  of  horsemen 
seemingly  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon.  There  might  have  been 
six  or  eight  of  them,  and  so  far  there  was  no  great  occasion  for 
alarm;  but  presently  others  were  seen  to  the  right -and  left,  as 
if  they  were  beating  the  plain  for  game.  In  another  moment 
still  more  bei'ame  visible  on  the  outskirts  of  the  others ;  and  now 
there  was  no  part  of  the  semi-circle  behind  the  'line  of  the 
wagons,  but  was  dotted  with  dark,  threatening  figures.  All 
were  mounted,  and  all  were  converging  as  to  a  common  centre, 
straight  down  upon  the  little  camp. 

'•There  are  seventy  of  'em  if  there's  one,"  said  the  doctor 
with  a  groan. 

"To  your  posts,  men!"  shouted  Seth,  hoarsely;  "we've  no 
time  to  waste!" 
4* 


82  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

The  dispositions  which  had  been  agreed  upon  required  some 
modification,  owing  to  the  probably  complicated  nature  of  the 
expected  attack.  It  had  been  thought  that  a  very  small  portion 
of  the  scanty  force  would  suffice  to  hold  the  ford,  and  it  had 
been  determined  to  place  the  men  likely  to  be  most  efficient, 
along  the  front  line,  where  they  would  have  ample  cover,  and 
could  use  their  rifles  to  the  best  advantage.  This  arrangement 
was  so  far  hastily  altered  as  to  put  Nahum  Pelter  in  charge  at 
that  now  critical  point  with  three  others,  including  poor  Ike  and 
his  constant  companion.  It  was  thought,  and  justly,  that  the 
dog,  sagacious  and  amenable  as  he  was,  might  do  good  service- 
in  the  event  of  a  rush  being  made  by  the  enemy  in  numbers  at 
the  crossing.  This  little  band  was  provided  with  double  sets  of 
rifles,  besides  revolvers  and  long  knives  ;  and  Nahum  had,  in 
addition,  a  large  ducking  gun,  which,  to  use  his  own  expression, 
he  had  "  rammed  full  of  slugs  "  for  close  quarters. 

On  the  left  of  the  front,  Dick  Railes  was  placed  in  charge, 
supported  by  the  doctor  and  two  others,  Luke  holding  the  cen 
tre,  and  Seth  himself,  with  Hugh  Gifiord,  being  stationed  at  the 
Castle.  The  party  was  thus  detailed  over  a  line  of  some  forty 
yards  in  length,  the  river  covering  their  rear  with  tolerable  effi 
cacy,  save  at  the  weak  point  so  well  guarded  by  Pelter. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  little  band  that  the  ground  on  the  op 
posite  bank  of  the  stream  was  low  and  flat  for  a  long  distance 
toward  the  hills,  and  that  it  swelled  upwards  on  their  own  side, 
forming  a  knoll  in  about  the  centre  of  the  camp,  depressing 
again  as  it  ran  to  the  line  of  wagons.  The  result  of  these  acci 
dents  was  that  no  raking  fire  upon  the  men  holding  the  main 
line  could  be  opened  in  the  rear  from  the  opposite  bank ;  while 
it  enabled  them  to  gain  time  by  reconnoitring,  and,  if  need  be, 
opposing  an  approach  in  that  direction,  from  behind  the  friendly 
shelter  of  the  ridge,  without  entirely  drawing  off  their  attention 
from  enemies  in  front.  The  position  was  certainly  a  very  strong 
one ;  whether  it  were  sufficiently  so  to  enable  the  garrison  to 
hold  it  against  vastly  superior  numbers,  remained  to  be  seen. 
The  Indians  on  the  plain  had  now  approached  to  within  a  dis 
tance  of  about  four  hundred  yards,  while  those  descending  the 
defile  had  apparently  come  to  a  halt,  since  their  column  had  for 
several  minutes  remained  without  emerging  from  one  of  its 
turnings  which  concealed  it  from  view.  Those  on  the  plain  now 
dismounted,  and  it  could  be  seen  that  their  dress  was  somewhat 
similar  to  that  of  the  chief  of  the  Delawares.  They  were, 
however,  of  inferior  height  and  presence,  and  their  countenances 
were  hideously  daubed  with  paint.  Most  of  this  party  bore 


THE    QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  83 

short  rifles,  as  well  as  knives  and  tomahawks  carried  in  their 
belts,  while  the  rest,  in  addition  to  the  latter  weapons,  had  for 
midable-looking  spears. 

One  of  the  party  now  advanced  a  few  yards  before  the  others, 
and,  with  amicable  gestures,  unrolled  the  long  skin  which  h" 
hud  carried  at  his  back,  and  performed  the  manoeuvre  employed  by 
Washashaco,  as  an  indication  of  friendly  intentions.  Upon  this 
demonstration,  although  having  small  hopes  of  its  sincerity, 
Seth  and  Gilford  ascended  the  knoll  and  made  friendly  gestures 
in  response,  which  were  in  turn  reciprocated  by  the  savage.  At 
this  point  of  the  proceedings,  the  Indians  slowly  and  cautiously 
drew  somewhat  nearer,  and  their  leader  made  signs,  proposing 
that  his  party  should  enter  their  camp,  and  pay  the  white  men 
a  visit.  To  this  thel  titter  signified  a  courteous  refusal,  which 
was  not  altogether  well  received.  The  Indians  soon  commenced 
a  violent  discussion  among  themselves,  which  terminated  in  their 
chief,  with  some  difficulty,  intimating  to  the  whites  that  his 
band  had  missed  one  of  their  number,  whom  they  supposed  to 
be  in  the  travellers'  camp,  and  that  unless  he  were  given  up 
they  intended  to  come  and  search  for  him.  To  this  Seth  and 
Gilford  could  only  reply  that  the  missing  man  was  not  there, 
and  again  decline  the  proffered  visit.  The  warrior  then  sug 
gested,  by  way  of  satisfying  his  braves,  that  the  white  men 
should  all  come  and  show  themselves  on  the  eminence  where 
their  spokesman  stood*  and  thus  prove  to  the  Indians  that  their 
lost  comrade  was  not  among  them.  This  transparent  artifice 
poor  Seth,  in  his  earnest  desire  to  avert  a  collision,  failed  to  see 
through,  and  he  called  to  the  others  to  join  him  on  the  ridge, 
which  most  of  them  were  in  the  act  of  doing,  when  the  bass 
shout  of  Nahum  Pelter  was  heard  behind  : 

>;  Be  ye  all  mad l?  Do  ye  all  want  to  git  shot  down  in  a 
bunch  like  wild  pigeons  ?  Down  !  down  I  every  man  while  he 
can!" 

The  warning  did  not  come  too  soon  ;  for,  whether  fearful  their 
trick  would  be  understood,  or.  from  some  other  reason,  that 
they  might  get  no  other  opportunity,  the  savages  paused  no 
longer.  The  sharp  crack  of  a  dozen  rifles  was  heard,  and  al 
though  they  did  small  damage  beyond  a  flesh  wound  in  the 
thigh  for  Jabez  Fitch,  and  the  perforation  of  Seth's  fur  cap, 
they  were  well  meant  enough  to  clear  the  knoll  in  a  trice,  and 
drive  the  whites  to  their  post,  intent  on  sharp  hostilities.  At 
the  same  instant,  the  report  of  Pelter' s  rifle  rang  through  the 
air,  followed  in  quick  succession  by  three  other  shots.  The 
whole  front  line  now  opened  on  then*  assailants  in  a  volley,  and 


84  MAKIAN   KOOKE  ;    OR 

the  Indians,  with  demoniac  shouts,  rushed  forward  to  the  as 
sault. 

Keeping  up  a  running  fire  as  they  advanced,  the  enemy 
readied  a  point  within  twenty  yards  of  the  wagons  with  a  loss 
of  only  two  or  three  of  their  number  ;  but  at  this  critical  mo 
ment  the  garrison  delivered  their  reserved  fire  with  deadly  effect, 
nearly  as  many  savages  falling  as  there  had  been  shots.  The 
advance  wavered,  and  finally  retreated  in  confusion,  bearing  off 
their  fallen  companions. 

An  exulting  cheer  went  up  from  the  little  band  as  they  swiftly 
reloaded  their  weapons  and  exchanged  congratulations.  None 
were  hurt  at  this  first  onset,  and  they  accepted  the  immunity  as 
a  happy  augury. 

u  Well  done,  boys  !"  cried  Pelter,  his  huge  form  appearing 
on  the  ridge  from  the  ford.  "  We've  peppered  three  on  'em, 
sartain,  down  on  our  side,  and  they  dursen't  take  to  the  water ! 
Keep  on  as  well  as  you're  doin',  and  we'll  beat  'em  off  yet." 

"No  one  is  hurt?"  asked  Mary  Anne,  looking  anxiously 
from  the  wagon. 

"  None,  thank  Heaven,"  replied  Hugh;  "  but  pray  do  not 
show  yourself  thus  ;  you  will  attract  their  attention,  and  draw 
their  fire  on  the  castle." 

"  We  have  four  guns,"  said  the  girl,  "  and  are  ready  to  use 
them." 

"Not  yet,  not  yet;  things  are  not  so  desperate  yet  as  to 
make  it  needful  or  wise  for  you  to  expose  yourselves.  Pray 
retire." 

Even  as  he  spoke  a  bullet  struck  the  top  of  the  wagon,  and, 
tearing  away  a  shred  of  canvas  in  its  course,  sped  on  across 
the  river.  A  cry  burst  from  Luke,  who  saw  the  incident  from 
his  post. 

"Back!  back!"  he  shouted,  "and  lie  down  in  the . wagon ! 
There's  men  enough  left  to  be  killed  without  women  helpin' 
'em.  See !  the  red  devils  are  comin'  on  again  I  Make  her  go 
in,  Mr.  Gifford,  do !" 

"  I  will  go  in,"  said  the  girl,  steadily,  but  very  pale.  "I  will 
go  in,  but  only  because  I  can  do  as  much  within  as  without." 
Indeed,  she  and  Kitty  had  cut  slits  in  the  canvas  on  the  side 
towards  the  enemy,  and  now  prepared  to  swell  the  next  volley 
as  the  foe  came  on,  by  pointing  through  these  apertures  the 
arms  they  possessed. 

Small  time  was  given  for  preparation,  for  the  Indians  were 
rushing  forward  with  as  much  show  of  resolution  as  before. 
This  time  they  advanced  in  much  looser  order,  spreading  them- 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  85 

selves  further  apart  than  at  first,  and  leaping  and  whooping  to 
distract  the  aim  of  the  whites.  The  latter,  however,  prudently 
withheld  their  fire  until  the  enemy  was  even  nearer  than  at  first, 
and  then  poured  in  a  double  volley  with  much  more  destructive 
effect.  Again  the  assailants  retreated,  and  again  were  congrat 
ulations  exchanged. 

But  matters  were  looking  graver  at  the  ford.  Despite  the 
cover  of  the  group  of  cottonwoods,  one  of  Nahum  Pelter's 
handful  had  been  hit,  and  although  the  wound  was  not  fatal,  it 
was  serious  enough  to  keep  the  sufferer  from  being  of  further 
use  in  the  fray.  IJe  was  carried  back  to  a  safe  place  by  Ike, 
and  the  doctor  summoned  in  haste  to  his  assistance.  Thus  the 
defence  was  at  once  weakened  by  two  rifles,  a  fact  of  which  the 
red  men  were  speedily  aware. 

They  did  not  attempt  for  the  present  a  third  general  advance, 
but  contented  themselves  by  keeping  up  a  heavy,  though  desul 
tory  fire,  hoping  by  chance  to  disable  others,  and  make  the  re 
mainder  an  easy  prey  when  they  should  resolve  on  a  final  charge. 
This  policy  the  white  men  met  in  turn,  by  keeping  securely 
behind  then*  cover,  and  wasting  no  ammunition  in  reply.  An 
hour  thus  wore  on,  the  little  band  lying  grim  and  resolute  on 
their  arms,  the  Indians  actively  circling  about  them  striving  to 
spy  out  some  vulnerable  spot,  or  to  catch  a  chance  at  some  ex 
posed  one  of  their  otherwise  invisible  foes.  Tired  at  last  of 
these  unproductive  tactics,  a  new  manoeuvre  was  resolved  upon, 
and  to  their  other  dangers  the  beleaguered  band  were  now 
threatened  with  those  of  fire. 

A  shower  of  burning  arrows  were  thrown  among  the  brush 
which  has  been  described  as  forming  an  abattis,  and  connecting 
the  wagons  while  it  masked  the  movements  of  those  behind. 
Should  this  be  consumed,  not  only  would  they  be  deprived  of 
their  best  cover,  but  openings  would  be  made  whereby  the 
enemy  might  make  their  way  into  the  camp.  The  water  which 
had  been  prudently  made  ready  to  meet  this  emergency  was 
now  used  with  good  effect ;  but  those  who  used  it  were  neces 
sarily  more  exposed  than  before  to  the  fire  of  the  Indians,  and 
the  man  Fitch,  who  had  been  slightly  hurt  earlier  in  the  day, 
now  fell  mortally  wounded  by  a  bullet  through  the  body. 

At  this  heavy  cost  the  flames  were  extinguished ;  but  it  was 
clear  that  the  assailants  could  repeat  their  incendiary  efforts 
whenever  they  chose,  and  even  should  they  be  defeated  at  a 
similar  expense,  on  each  occasion,  it  was  easy  to  reckon  the 
small  space  that  lay  between  the  devoted  party  and  extermina 
tion. 


86  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR 

The  Indians  were  apparently  satisfied  with  this  prospect,  and 
willing  to  rest  awhile  from  their  labors.  Their  fire  slackened, 
they  no  longer  threw  burning  arrows,  and  the  white  men  thus 
found  time  for  hasty  consultation.  It  was  long  past  noon  now, 
and  the  hope  which  had  buoyed  many  of  their  hearts  during 
the  unequal  strife  had  begun  to  fail  them. 

"Where,"  asked  Seth,  drawing  a  powder-blackened  hand 
across  his  brow,  which  looked  ten  years  older  since  yesterday, 
"  where,  think  ye,  are  the  Delawarcs  ?" 

Hugh  shook  his  head  without  reply.  He  was,  indeed,  miser 
ably  disappointed ;  for,  irrespective  of  the  pressing  need  of  his 
services  and  those  of  his  warriors,  the  young  man  had  placed 
implicit  faith  in  Washashaco ;  and  he  grieved  as  much  as  a  man 
could  grieve,  surrounded  by  so  much  that  was  exciting  and  en 
grossing,  over  the  chief's  defection. 

Pelter  crept  over  to  say  a  word,  but  it  was  not  now  a  word 
of  encouragement ;  and  Luke  came  over  and  grasped  his  father's 
horny  hand  with  a  sad  look  at  the  wagon,  more  expressive  than 
words;  the  doctor  came,  too,  with  set  teeth  and  a  bandage 
about  his  head.  They  had  lost  four  out  of  their  scanty  number, 
besides  one  or  two  with  slight  wounds.  All  saw,  what  none 
cared  in  words  to  express,  that  there  was  nothing  before  them 
but  to  die  like  men. 

On  came  the  Indians  once  again,  and  again  the  now  desperate 
band  rushed  to  their  posts  for  a  last  struggle.  Again  the  blaz 
ing  missiles  were  hurled  into  the  brush,  and  the  flames  this 
time  mounted  higher  than  before.  Again  were  desperate  efforts 
made  to  extinguish  them ;  but  the  fire  had  more  heart  this  time, 
and  so  had  the  assailants.  With  yells  and  screeches  and  appall 
ing  whoops,  they  swarmed  on,  not  heeding  now  those  who 
dropped  among  their  number.  The.  last  shot  of  the  whites  was 
expended,  and  still  their  foes  swept  on.  The  blaze  now  caught 
one  of  the  wagons,  and  at  this  place  a  gap  had  been  made, 
larger  than  any  other.  Through  this  gap  poured  the  exulting 
savages,  but  the  two  first  fell  by  the  rifles  of  Pelter  and  Ike, 
who  sprang  up  the  ridge  to  help  beat  back  the  assault. 

At  this  terrible  moment  Seth  Armstrong  was  hit  by  a  chance 
bullet,  and  his  right  arm  fell  powerless  by  his  side ;  but,  nothing 
daunted,  he  seized  an  axe,  and  stood  bareheaded,  with  his  gray  hair 
streaming  in  the  wind,  in  front  of  the  wagon  where  the  females 
were,  prepared  to  defend  it  to  the  last.  But  Hugh  Gilford  sprang 
toward  the  breach  as  if,  though  but  for  a  moment,  to  contest  its 
passage.  As  he  did  so  a  terrific  war-whoop  sounded  from  the 
ford. 


THE    QUEST     FOR    FORTUNE.  87 

"Hurrah  !"  shouted  Nahum  Pelter,  as  he  bounded  down  from 
the  slope,  "  hurrah !  ?Tis  the  war-cry  of  the  Delawares  !  Stand 
firm,  boys  1  We'll  lick  'em  yet."' 

As  he  spoke,  the  giant  threw  himself  headlong  into  the  gap, 
whirling  his  long  rifle,  and  dashing  the  Indians  right  and  left 
to  the  earth  at  every  whirl.  It  really  seemed  that  he  could  hold 
the  pass  single-handed  against  the  surging  mass  who  opposed 
him.  For  three  minutes,  in  truth,  he  did  so ;  and  those  three 
minutes  doubtless  saved  the  lives  of  the  rest  of  the  party,  but 
they  cost  the  gallant  frontiersman  his  own ;  for  he  fell  at  last  like 
some  noble  tree,  surrounded  by  the  dead  and  wounded  of  his  foes. 

During  this  struggle  Ike  had  pressed  bravely  forward  to  the 
aid  of  his  comraue.  but,  before  the  latter  had  fallen,  the  poor  sim 
pleton  was  struck  in  the  breast  by  a  tomahawk  hurled  by  a  savage 
who  had  managed  to  pierce  the  line  below  the  larger  breach. 
As  he  fell,  the  dog  Lion  sprang  with  a  fierce  howl  at  the  throat 
of  his  assailant,  and  bore  him  also  to  the  earth  ;  but  a  second  red 
man  was  close  at  the  heels  of  the  first,  and  he  raised  his  hatchet 
to  brain  the  noble  beast  from  behind.  Whether  incited  by  the 
imploring  look  in  Ike's  eyes  as  he  lay  on  the  ground  or  not. 
Gilford  was  fortunately  in  time  to  anticipate  this  stroke ;  and, 
clubbing  his  rifle,  he  dealt  the  Indian  a  blow  on  the  temple, 
which  stretched  him  lifeless  by  Ike's  side. 

Having  succeeded  in  overwhelming  then'  huge  opponent,  the 
Pawnees  now  leaped  in  numbers  over  his  body  into  the  camp, 
but  they  met  other  and  fresher  foes  than  they  counted  upon; 
for  Washashaco  with  liis  braves  had  crossed  the  stream  above 
the  ford,  and  now  rushed  down  the  hill,  uttering  the  terrible 
war-whoop  of  the  Delawares.  This  onset,  so  sudden,  so  unex 
pected  as  it  was,  appeared  to  fill  the  Pawnees  with  terror.  Six 
or  eight  were  shot  down  at  once,  almost  without  lifting  a  hand, 
and  the  next  instant  the  Delawares  were  upon  and  among  them, 
striking  and  destroying  without  mercy. 

The  females  now  handed  freshly-loaded  weapons  to  their 
friends,  and  a  volley  from  Luke,  Dick  Railes,  and  the  Doctor,  dis 
charged  into  the  crowd  on  the  plain  outside,  completed  the  dis 
comfiture  of  the  attacking  party.  They  fled  in  all  directions, 
leaving  then-  dead  and  wounded"  to  the  mercy  of  the  conquerors, 
while  they  sought  to  reach  their  horses  on  the  open  beyond. 
The  yells  and  shots  of  their  pursuers,  however,  produced  a  stam 
pede  among  the  horses,  and  doubled  the  confusion  of  the  rout. 
The  Delawares  followed  up  their  advantage  relentlessly,  and,  in 
half  an  hour,  of  the  numbers  who  commenced  the  attack,  scarcely 
a  tithe  were  living  and  unhurt. 


88  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

Washashaco,  returning  from  the  pursuit,  found  bis  friefids 
mourning  over  their  dead.  He  paused  by  the  body  of  Nahum 
Velter. 

"He  was  a  great  warrior,"  said  the  chieftain,  solemnly,  "and 
died  as  a  warrior  should.  My  brothers  can  now  go  forward  in 
safety,"  he  continued,  pointing  to  the  plain,  where  the  last  of  the 
broken  enemy  could  be  seen  flying  before  the  victorious  Del- 
awares.  "My  brothers  can  go  on  their  journey  in  peace ;  there 
arc  now  no  red  men  to  stop  their  path  from  this  place  to  the  Great 
Lake  of  Bitter  Waters!" 


END   OP  THE  FIRST  BOOK. 


THE    QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  89 


BOOK  THE   SECOND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  time  has  arrived  when  some  brief  explanation  may  be  fit 
ting,  both  as  regards  what  has  already  been  given  of  this  nar 
rative  and  what  may  hereafter  be  related.  There  is  a  piece  of 
information  which,  although  it  may  not  be  strictly  due  to  the 
reader,  is  yet  likely  to  be  in  some  degree  satisfactory,  as  clearing 
up  doubts  and  solving  the  manner  of  treating  the  characters  of 
certain  individuals  of  our  story,  which  otherwise  might  appear 
to  be  needlessly  clouded  and  incomplete.  When  the  author  first 
determined  on  his  work,  his  design  was  to  set  forth  with  tracing 
the  adventures  of  its  principal  personages  from  the  time  when  he 
first  encountered  and  knew  them  in  the  wilds  of  California ;  but 
he  afterwards  thought  such  a  narrative  would  be  better  rounded 
and  more  interesting  if  the  reader  were  made  acquainted 
with  the  eventful  journey  across  the  plains  on  which  those  char 
acters  first  met,  and  whence  the  mutual  influence  of  diverse 
natures  might  be  supposed  to  have  begun.  Thus  it  fell  out, 
then,  that  what  he  has  called  the  First  Book  was  taken  down 
chiefly  from  the  lips  of  Hugh  Gifford,  a  circumstance  which  will 
explain  the  absence  of  any  particular  elaboration  touching  that 
gentleman's  own  peculiarities;  and  also,  perhaps,  account  for 
some  indications  of  reticence  .in  describing  the  motives  or 
thoughts  of  others.  So  flu*  as  these  omissions  are  concerned, 
they  might  possibly  have  been  fatal  to  the  intelligibility  of  his 
story  had  not  the  author  been  able  to  elicit  from  feminine 
sources  such  links  and  fragments  as  connected  the  gaps,  and 
enabled  him  to  construct  a  tolerably  comprehensive  whole. 
Human  beings  are  rarely  good  judges  of  their  own  moral  or 
aesthetic  development,  but  those  among  them  who  are  the  best, 
are  seldom  apt  to  be  free  in  imparting  its  history.  Hugh  was 


90  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

more  like  William  the  Silent  than  Michel  de  Montaigne,  and 
although  he  would  readily  tell  you  what  he  had  done,  or  even  at 
times  what  he  meant  to  do,  he  was  grudging  as  to  what  he  had 
thought  and  felt.  But  Marian — well,  we  shall  see  and  judge  her 
for  ourselves,  for  it  was  many  weeks  that  AVC  lived  within  sight 
of  her  almost  ideal  beauty,  within  sound  of  her  musical  voice,  in 
the  same  family,  indeed,  all  of  us  digging  and  straining  for  yel 
low  earth,  in  the  lovely  country  that  nestled  about  Armstrong's 
Bar. 

Beautiful  land  of  California !  Beautiful  in  thy  soaring  moun 
tains,  beautiful  in  thy  laughing  plains,  in  thy  lakes  and  valleys, 
thy  brimming  rivers  and  thy  sublime  cataracts  !  Noble  and  yet 
mysterious  land — where  with  all  the  vastncss  and  solitude  of 
primeval  wilds  there  were  found  long  reaches  of  velvety  turf, 
shaded  by  giant  trees,  and  as  free  from  underbrush  as  an  English 
park ;  reaches  where  one-  could  gallop  for  miles  and  miles  and 
yet  see  no  sign  of  a  living  thing ;  where  after  some  long  and 
easy  ascent,  perchance,  the  trees  grew  thicker  and  the  air 
grew  darker,  till  of  a  sudden,  bursting  on  the  eye  with  a  flood  of 
light,  there  stretched  below  a  landscape  of  such  surpassing  and 
cultivated  loveliness  that  the  gazer  could  scarce  believe — such  is 
the  force  of  prejudice  and  association — that  it  had  not  been  for 
ages  the  abode  of  man,  smoothed,  softened,  and  redeemed  from 
natural  savagery  by  works  of  art  and  of  agriculture.  But  as  he 
gazed  on  ho  saw  that  it  was  not  so.  No  line  of  smoke,  no  roof- 
tree,  could  his  narrowest  scrutiny  detect  in  the  spacious  panorama 
before  him.  No  broken  column  relieved  with  its  sculptured 
whiteness  the  unvaried  green  of  the  foliage.  No  fragment  of 
some  springing  dome  intercepted  the  endless  waves  of  the  tree- 
tops.  No  cattle  or  sheep  browsed  over  the  boundless  meadows 
so  loaded  with  luxuriant  vegetation,  as  if  for  their  needs.  No 
figures — more  mournful  deiiciency  than  any  other — no  figures 
of  human  beings  with  crooks  in  hand 'and  bits  of  bright  color 
about  their  dress,  to  catch  the  eye  with  a  comforting  assurance 
that  life  and  sympathy  were  there !  Nature  alone — nature  at 
once  grand  in  her  own  majesty  and  made  delicate  and  various 
by  the  constant  suggestion  of  refined  inhabitants,  but  of  whom 
the  closest  eye  could  find  no  trace.  It  seemed  as  if  capricious 
genii  had  swept  by  night  through  some  Arcadian  vale,  rich  in 
the  labor  of  classic  hands,  stored  with  piles  and  piles  of  priceless 
architecture — temples,  arches,  lanes — and  borne  them,  like  Alad 
din's  palace,  carefully  away,  leaving  nature's  work  and  nature's 
work  alone  behind. 

Such  was  California — at  least,  such  parts  of  it  as  I  best  knew. 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  91 

California,  which,  with  her  delicious  atmosphere,  her  sunny  skies, 
her  teeming  fertility,  has  tangible  attractions  besides  those  of  ail 
her  pomp  of  scenery  and  her  feverish  glare  of  gold,  to  draw 
earth's  discontented  wanderers  to  her  soil,  and,  if  they  be  wi -e, 
to  keep  them  there.  For  me  there  is  no  need  to  call  up  associa 
tions  connected  with  discoveries  of  the  precious  ore,  to  think  of 
California  as  essentially  a  land  of  romance.  The  air  alone — so 
different  from  that  of  the  harsh,  easterly  exposures  of  the  Atlantic 
coast — makes  the  pulse  quicken  even  in  memory,  and  the  heart 
beat  with  retrospective  gratitude  for  its  inspiriting  beneficence. 
Where  the  body  is  healed  and  comforted,  the  spirit  is  likewise 
apt  to  be,  and  the  recollection  of  life  is  most  prosaic  which  is 
passed  in  ungenial  climes.  Physical  discomfort — the  constant 
struggle  against  unfavorable  external  conditions — is  a  sad  draw 
back  on  poetic  memories  as  well  as  poetic  feeling ;  and  although 
the  Norsemen  had  bards  as  well  as  the  Greeks,  there  is  not  much 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  relative  inspiration  of  their  muse. 
The  misery  which  is  taught  in  song  may  come  of  the  east  wind, 
but  its  love  and  its  melody,  its  perfume  and  its  hope,  must  be 
inspired  by  the  balmy  breath  of  the  south  and  the  west.  Yes, 
California  was  to  me  a  land  of  romance  ^  and  not  less  so  that  I 
met  there  for  the  first  time  those  friends  of  ours  with  whom 
the  reader  is  already  somewhat  acquainted. 

It  was  a  soft  evening  in  the  spring  of  1851  that,  having  wan 
dered  in  many  directions  with  many  objects,  chance  or  fate  drew 
me  near  the  spot  where  these  friends  had  made  their  camp  and 
set  up  their  tents.  All  the  afternoon  I  had  been  walking,  trot 
ting,  or  cantering  my  horse  through  such  park-like  glades  as  I 
have  essayed  to  describe.  The  last  stopping-place  had  been 
twenty  miles  behind,  but  the  day  was  fine,  and  the  track  not 
difBcult  to  follow,  since  one  had  merely  to  keep  within  easy  dis 
tance  of  a  stream  which  flowed  on  the  left,  and  on  whoso  banks 
the  settlement,  which  was  the  goal  of  my  journey,  was  to  be 
found.  There  had  been,  however,  an  abrupt  rise  in  the  rolling 
country,  and  for  some  miles  the  tall  trees,  always  ascending  be 
fore,  told  me  I  was  gaining  a  considerable  elevation.  This  led 
me  to  swerve  more  to  the  right,  to  keep  clear  of  the  river,  whose 
banks  must  now  be  high  and  precipitous ;  and,  thus  inclining,  the 
forest  grew  denser,  until  the  tall  redwoods  seemed  almost  dis 
posed  to  dispute  my  further  passage.  It  was  getting  towards 
evening,  too,  and  although  hostile  Indians  were  said  to  be  tew 
in  that  region,  yet  an  occasional  grizzly  was  stumbled  upon,  and 
was  pretty  certain  to  prove  a  very  dangerous  customer.  Just  as 
this  disagreeable  thought  flashed  across  my  mind,  the  deep  bay 


92  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

of  a  dog  rang  forth  in  the  thicket  beyond,  and  put  to  flight  ah 
fear  of  any  such  terrible  neighbor  ;  for  it  was  not  the  bark  of  an 
Indian's  cur,  or  the  dismal  whine  of  the  coyote,  and  I  knew  at 
once  that  white  men  must  be  near.  A  few  moments  longer,  and 
my  conviction  was  verified,  although  the  faces  I  saw  would 
scarcely  have  passed  for  Caucasian  in  an  Atlantic  city.  There 
were  two  of  them  bronzed  to  more  than  a  mahogany  color,  and, 
at  the  first  glance,  neither  in  expression  nor  manner  did  the 
strangers  seem  veiy  prepossessing.  They  were  seated  on  a  log 
in  a  small  natural  clearing,  and  a  mountain  brook  was  babbling 
along  beside  them ;  two  men  in  leathern  hunting-shirts  and  leg 
gings  of  what  appeared  to  be  of  the  same  material.  The  elder- 
had  little  else  in  the  way  of  dress  or  trappings,  save  a  broad 
knife  stuck  in  his  girdle  ;  he  had  a  white  line  scored  across  one 
cheek,  as  I  afterwards"  learned,  by  a  rifle  bullet.  The  younger 
man  was  more  curiously  arrayed,  for  his  dress  was  plentifully 
bedecked  with  gaily  colored  feathers  and  beads,  interspersed 
here  and  there  by  pieces,  of  bright  scarlet  cloth.  The  two  had 
a  tin  ewer  or  pan  on  the  log  between  them,  which  they  weiv 
shaking  back  and  forth,  watching  it  the  while  with  eager  in 
terest. 

"  Down,  Lion,  down  !"  cried  one  of  the  men,  just  before  my 
horse  emerged  into  the  open.  "  There  ain't  no  Injuns  near 
abouts,  I  tell  ye,  and  as  to  the  bars,  they're  a  gettin'  too  all-fired 
smart  to  travel  so  close  to  the  settlement.  Down,  I  tell  ye !" 

"  Lion  knows  more  nor  you  or  me,  Dick  Railes,"  exclaimed 
his  companion.  "If  he  says  red-skin,  it's  red-skin.  If  he  says 
bar,  it's  bar.  He  don't  say  neither  bar  nor  rcd-sjkin  now, 
though,  seein'  he  knows  it's  a  white  man  !J) 

As  he  spoke,  the  dog  burst  into  the  area,  .baying  furiously, 
for  the  intruder  was  close  at  hand.  My  horse  was  a  trifle  rest 
ive  under  this  ungracious  welcome,  and  I  hastened  to  establish 
more  friendly  relations. 

"It  is  a  white  man,  my  friends,"  I  cried,  "and  one  who 
means  no  one  harm  ;  so,  perhaps,  you'll  call  off  this  trusty  sen 
tinel  of  yours,  whom  my  horse  seems  to  think  a  grizzly  in  dis 
guise." 

But  Lion  barked  no  longer.  The  sound  of  my  voice,  and  the 
fact  that  his  companions  knew  of  my  presence,  were  quite  suffi 
cient  for  the  sagacious  creature,  who  now  lay  down  close  to  the 
log  in  silence,  only  questioning  my  every  movement  with  his 
bright,  penetrating  eyes. 

"  More  on  'em  !"  said  the  elder  man,  in  a  discontented  tone. 
"  That's  three  since  Sunday.  Honey  and  bees  is  nuthin'  to  't. 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  03 

You  air  a  stranger,  you  air,  sir.  You're  welcome  sure  enough, 
so  fur's  hung  beef  and  hoe-cake  goes,  and  a  shakedown  for  that 
matter.  But  there's  poor  diggins  round  here.  That's  so.  May 
be,"  he  continued,  his  face  brightening  with  a  look  of  sudden 
hope  and  reassurance,  "May  be,  ye  don't  reckon  to  stay  round 
here  ?  Like  as  not,  you're  goin'  on  to  Yankee  Jim's,  or  Shut- 
tail  Canon  ?" 

I  shook  my  head.  "  I  was  going  to  ask  you  to  show  me  the 
way  to  Armstrong's  Bar." 

My  interlocutor  groaned.  "You're  sure  ye  hadn't  rather 
keep  on  to  Yankee  Jim's?  It's  drefful  poor  pickin'  hereabouts. 
nave  a  chaw,  stranger?" 

"  Not  now,  thank  you.  Then  you  don't  know  the  way  to 
Armstrong's  ?" 

"  Know  it?  Why,  I  know  it  backwards,  and  every  inch  fif 
teen  miles  up  and  down  both  sides  of  the  river.  Ye  hain't 
heard  how  fast  they're  scratchin'  out  the  coarse  gold  up  at  the 
Canon,  have  ye  ?" 

I  explained  that  I  did  not  come  for  the  immediate  purpose  of 
digging,  but  to  see  the  country ;  and  that  my  object  was  to  pro 
ceed  at  once  to  Armstrong's  Bar.  The  first  part  of  my  state 
ment  seemed  to  afford  my  companion  great  relief  and  satisfaction. 

"  Don't  mean  to  dig,  eh  ?  Well,  it  is  hard  work,  and  harder 
down  our  way  than  most  anywheres  else.  As  for  the  Bar,  I 
kin  take  ye  there,  and  I  will.  Not  that  the  boys  like  strangers 
pooty  well.  They're  kinder  sot  agen  'em.  There  was  an  editor 
there  last  month  from  Marysville  ;  a  curus  kind  of  a  chap,  but 
I  guess  he  means  well.  His  name  was  Zelotes  Pangburn,  it 
wor ;  and  the  boys  treated  him  as  slick  as  they  knew  how  ;  but 
he  turned  agen  'cm." 

"Hooray!"  shouted  the  other  so  suddenly  that  the  dog 
leaped  up  with  a  quick  bark  of  sympathy.  "Hooray!  here's 
the  shiny  arter  all !  Ike's  found  it — more'n  there  is  anywhere 
on  the  Bar !  Hooray  I"  and  he  held  up  in  the  palm  of  his  hand 
a  little  heap  of  glittering  dust. 

"Shut  up,  can't  ye?"  growled  Dick  Railes ;  "ye'll  have  the 
hull  of  Calif orny  on  the  Bar,  with  your  boastin'  and  howlin'." 

"  And  s'pose  I  did,"  cried  Ike,  "there's  more'n  enough  for 
all  on  'em!  and  when  there  ain't,  Ike  '11  find  more  still — 
mountains  of  it." 

"  I  tell  ye  what,  Ike,"  proceeded  his  comrade,  "  s'pose  you 
and  Lion  travel  on  ahead,  and  tell  Miss  Armstrong  and  Kitty 
this  'ere  man's  comin'  on  to  the  Bar ;  they'll  want  to  scare  up 
suinthin'  for  supper." 


94  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

Ike  was  nothing  loath  to  accede  to  this  arrangement,  and  he 
set  forth,  as  they  assured  me,  by  a  short  cut,  which  would  bring 
him  to  the  settlement  much  sooner  than  my  horse  would  carry 
me.  This  cut  led  toward  the  left  and  down'  the  clhTs,  Arm 
strong's  Bar  being  directly  on  the  banks  of  the  stream,  a  couple 
of  miles  further  on.  Dick  and  myself  proceeded  by  a  more 
circuitous  route,  having  to  pass  around  the  base  of  a  series  of 
lofty  hills. 

u  He's  only  a  poor  nateral,"  observed  Mr.  Railes,  in  a  depre 
cating  tone,  as  he  took  in  a  gigantic  slice  of  his  favorite  weed, 
"  only  a  poor  nateral.  But  the  folks  thinks  a  heap  of  him,  and 
he  kin  fight  like  sin,  he  kin." 

"Fight?" 

"  Fight.  He  and  that  there  big  dog  o'  his'n  jest  put  four  red 
skins  through  their  dickies  atween  'em,  out  there  on  the  plains. 
That's  so,  I  was  along  and  seen  it ;  and  it  wor  the  hardest  day's 
fight  I  ever  see.  Most  o'  the  boys  on  the  Bar  was  in  it,  they 
wor  ;  and  there  was  more  that  never  came  out  of  it." 

"  You  had  a  rough  time  of  it?" 

"  Rough  ?  you  can  bet  high  we  had.  'Twas  just  touch  and 
go  whether  any  on  us  ever  came  out  alive.  I  never  think  on't 
but  I  feel  my  scalp  half  off,  and  put  up  my  hand  to  see  if  it's  thar." 

"And  your  friends  at  the  Bar  were  in  this  struggle,  you 
say?" 

"Most  all  on  'em ;  old  Seth,  and  Luke,  and  his  wife  and  gals, 
and  the  Scotch  doctor  we've  got  there,  and  Hugh  Gilford,  and 
Ike,  and  Lion — you've  seen  them — and  a  heap  more  ;  let  alone 
them  we  buried  where  they  fell.  There  was  a  chap  named  Pel- 
ter,  as  good  a  hunter  and  as  true  a  shot  as  ever  dropped  a  buck 
or  hit  a  dollar.  He  saved  the  hull  party,  he  did  ;  for  he  stood 
like  a  rock,  and  blocked  the  hole  where  the  Injuns  was  tryin'  to 
pour  in,  till  the  Delawares  came  to  help  us." 

"  So  that  most  of  the  party  escaped?" 

"Yes.  Some  on  'em  hurt  bad,  though.  Uncle  Seth  had  his 
arm  broke,  and  poor  Ike  was  hit  in  the  chest  with  a  hatchet. 
It  stunned  him  like,  and  the  big  dog  had  the  redskin  that  hove 
.,  it  by  the  throat  quicker  'n  greased  hghtnin' ;  but  it  wor  all  day 
with  Lion,  it  wor,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  Gilford ;  for  he  jest 
cooked  another  devil  who  was  arter  splittin'  the  critter's  head 
open.  A  minute  more  and  the  Delawares  were  among  us. 
Painters  and  screech-owls  !  I  can  hear  'em  a  hollerin'  now  1 
Louder  than  thunder,  and  sharper  than  a  steam-engine !  But 
it  wor  the  pootiest  music  we  ever  heerd  for  all  that ;  for  we 
knew  it  was  friends,  and  it  meant  we  were  saved." 


THE  QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  95 

"  And  you  ;  were  you  unhurt-  ?'' 

"  Not  quite  ;  I  wor  tickled  up  in  the  ribs  some,  and  got  this 
wipe  across  the  check — nuthin'  to  speak  of.  So  you  see, 
stranger,"  continued  31  r.  Railes,  spirting  a  parenthetical  obla 
tion  far  ahead ;  "  so  you  see,  arter  goiu'  through  sech  lively  old 
times  in  company,  the  folks  up  at  the  Bar  kind  o'  froze  together  ; 
and  though  they  hadn't  thought  of  it  afore,  only  meanin'  to 
hitch  hosses  to  cross  the  plains,  they  agreed  to  try  and  stick  to 
the  same  diggins,  and  run  with  the  same  machine  as  long  as  they 
could.  That's  why  I'm  down  on  Zelotes  Paugbura." 

"  He  interfered  with  this  association,  then  ?" 

"  Xot  that  you'd  say  he  exactly  interfered.  But  he  went  and 
stuck  a  lot  of  stuff  in  his  paper,  down  to  Marysville,  'bout  what 
fat  diggins  and  slick  folks  there  was  up  to  Armstrong's  Bar,  and 
how  complete  and  pooty  it  was,  and  this  set  others  a  chatterin* 
down  at  Frisco  and  other  places,  and  we've  just  been  bothered 
with  strangers  ever  since." 

"  Well,  you  understand  I  don't  come  to  dig  or  to  give  trouble, 
and " 

"  Oh,  no  offence  ;  I  was  only  explainin'  to  ye,  ye  know,  'bout 
Zel. ;  we're  all  glad  to  see  folks  who  d'on't  come  to  make  trouble 
interferin'  with  claims.  Alter  all,  we  don't  do  much  more'n 
make  a  good  liviif  ;  for  grub,  and  boots,  and  tools  is  so  all-fired 
high,  anyhow,  and  teainin'  makes  'em  c6*me  so  much  higher,  it 
don't  leave  much  room  to  dicker  on ;  but  we're  happy  and  com 
fortable  together,  and,  if  we  was  let  alone,  there  ain't  none  of 
the  party  'd  vote  for  a  change." 

It  was  nearly  dusk  now,  and  as  my  tired  horse  stepped  slowly 
along,  Dick  Railes  walked  by  my  side,  beguiling  the  way  with 
his  rambling  accounts  of  the  people  at  Armstrong's  Bar,  their 
likes  and  dislikes,  their  adventures  on  the  plains  after  the  en 
counter  with  the  savages — which  adventures  were,  as  usual  after 
any  highly  perilous  and  exciting  one,  dull  and  commonplace  in 
comparison — the  exploits  of  Lion  and  the  eccentricities  of  his 
master,  the  troubles  the  party  had  overcome  in  getting  cover 
over  then*  heads  when  they  first  came  on  the  Bar,  and  so  forth  • 
until,  when  the  stars  began  to  wink  through  the  thickening 
obscure,  and  we  .wound  slowly  down  the  hill  side  into  the  little 
settlement,  I  knew  nearly  as  much  of  its  habits  and  its  history 
as  my  informant  himself. 

It  was  a  charming  spot,  whose  beauties  not  even  the  deepen 
ing  shadows  could  altogether  conceal.  The  washings  were  at 
some  little  distance  in  a  bend  of  the  stream,  and  hidden  by  inter 
vening  slopes  ;  so  that  there  was  none  of  that  hideous  tearing 


96  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

up  of  the  earth,  that  rifting  and  scoring  of  nature's  bosom, 
which  afterwards  gave  such  vast  tracts  in  California  so  ghastly 
an  appearance  ;  the  appearance  of  a  place  which  has  been  sub 
jected  to  a  terrific  bombardment ;  where  descending  shells  have 
sunk  into  the  soil,  and,  bursting,  thrown  it  in  all  manner  of  con 
fused  heaps  and  shapeless  clods  around ;  where  cannon-balls, 
flying  at  a  tangent  to  the  surface,  have  struck  inequalities  and 
laid  open  huge  furrows  of  many  yards  in  length ;  where  the 
ground  has  been  turned  up  from  so  great. a  depth  that  the  mould 
which  alone  can  bear  green  things  is  covered  over  and  buried 
by  yellow,  sun-burned  masses  of  clay  and  piles  of  sterile  gravel ; 
where  man,  having  accomplished  all  the  desolation  possible,  has 
fled  and  left  the  place  a  solitude.  There  are  three  things,  in 
deed,  in  whose  pursuit  our  race  make  similar  sacrilegious  assaults 
— leave  similar  scars  upon  mother  earth — three  passions,  whose 
traces  may  be  easily  confounded,  those  for  war,  travel,  and  gold. 
Intrenchments  and  rifle-pits  for  defence  and  attack,  excava 
tions  and  embankments  for  lines  of  railway,  and  tearing  up  the 
soil  for  the  coveted  metal,  produce  appearances  which  may  be 
readily  mistaken  one  for  the  other.  But  there  was  no  sign  of 
any  such  violence  to  be  seen  as  yet  at  Armstrong's  Bar. 

They  came  there  for  gold,  it  is  true,  and  if  it  were  to  be  had 
they  would  have  it.  Those  who  thought,  when  first  leaving  the 
East,  that  they  would  till  the  soil,  embark  in  trade,  mend  bod 
ies,  cure  souls,  or  what  not,  fell  to  pure  gold-getting  at  last,  in 
its  simplest  form,  when  they  came  on  the  ground.  But  their 
toils  were  happily  pursued  out  of  sight  of  their  dwellings,  and — 
rare  blessing  in  the  earlier  Californian  days — women's  hands 
were  with  them  to  beautify  as  well  as  women's  eyes  to  keep 
holy  ;  so  that  there  were  no  outward  marks  of  plutocracy  about 
the  little  nest  of  homes.  It  was  a  very  odd-looking  nest  cer 
tainly  ;  something  like  a  cross,  perhaps,  between  a  straggling 
Yankee  village  and  a  Bedouin  encampment ;  the  two  or  three 
edifices,  half  tent  and  half  shanty  ;  but  the  turf  was  green  and 
virgin  all  around,  the  neighborhood  was  scrupulously  clean, 'and 
there  was  a  dear,  sweet  odor  of  climbing  vines  in  the  air,  which 
seemed  to  sanctify  the  place  like  incense,  because  it  reminded 
one  of  home.  There  was,  at  least,  no  sign  of  gold-digging 
about  the  place,  and  that  of  itself  was  an  attraction. 

These  were  advantages  dimly  seen  and  imperfectly  appreci 
ated,  it  is  true,  on  the  evening  when  I  came  to  Armstrong's 
Bar ;  but. I  learned  to  know  and  cherish  them  afterwards,  and 
so  describe  them  rather  from  later  than  earlier  impressions.  My 
welcome  was  a  cordial  one,  however ;  more  so  than  I  had  any 


THE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  97 

right  to  expect.  But  Dick  Railes,  propitiated,  no  doubt,  by  my 
evident  interest  in  his  narrative,  and  by  the  more  material  inci 
dent  of  my  not  coming  to  prospect  for  gold,  evidently  did  his 
best  to  launch  me  comfortably  into  the  good  opinion  of  the  tiny 
society;  and  although,  as  usual,  those  whom  I  subsequently 
came  to  know  best  were  at  first  most  distant,  I  had  passed 
many  an  evening  less  agreeably  than  my  first  proved  to  be  at 
Armstrong's  Bar. 

Seth  Armstrong  had  managed  to  erect  a  highly  respectable 
domicile,  all  things  considered.  There  were,  probably,  no  such 
things  as  clap-boards,  or  planking,  or  shingles,  within  many  a 
mile,  and  a  saw-mill  was  yet  unheard  of  in  that  region.  But 
the  frame  of  the  building  was  of  stout  redwood,  with  the  bark 
still  covering  the  trees  and  saplings  which  served  as  timbers  and 
joists,  and  the  roof  of  heavy  canvas  was  steep  enough  to  give 
fair  promise  of  dry  shelter  below.  A  chimney  had  been  man 
aged  of  adobe,  the  sunburnt  brick  used  by  the  Mexicans,  half- 
breeds,  native  Californians,  or  whatever  else  or  more  properly 
the  singular  population  could  be  called,  which  the  Anglo-Saxons 
found  in  languid  possession  when  they  came  to  occupy  the  new 
appanage  of  the  great  republic,  There  was,  therefore,  a  very 
comfortable  fireplace,  and  a  bright  blaze  on  the  hearth  not  un 
welcome  to  see,  for  the  night  was  growing  chilly.  The  house 
was  of  one  story  only,  but  there  was  a  ceiling  of  canvas  some 
ten  feet  from  the  ground,  besides  the  cover  afforded  by  the  roof 
proper,  and  there  were  two  windows,  with  real  sashes  and  glass, 
opposite  the  door.  The  space  within,  which  measured  some 
forty  by  twenty  feet,  was  divided  into  four  rooms,  the  largest 
being  in  the  centre,  and  forming  the  main  apartment,  while  one 
end  was  partitioned  off  apparently  for  the  females  of  the  fam 
ily,  and  the  other  for  the  men.  Each  of  these  had  serviceable 
doors  leading  into  the  central  hall,  which  latter  was  well  pro 
vided  with  settles,  tables,  dressers,  and  such  necessaries  as  were 
requisite  to  comfort,  albeit  it  was  idle  to  make  any  pretensions 
to  elegance.  From  the  middle  of  the  ceiling,  and  about  three 
feet  below  it,  hung  a  hoop,  to  which  were  attached  several  bits 
of  lighted  candle,  and  which  constituted  a  chandelier  of  a  prim 
itive  shape  and  style,  indeed,  but  having  its  own  advantages  of 
convenience  as  well  as  of  safety,  which,  in  an  establishment  so 
largely  constructed  of  cotton,  was  not  to  be  despised.  Several 
barrels  stood  in  the  corners,  and  along  the  walls  were  hung  from 
the  wood  forming  the  frame  of  the  house  various  hams,  and  other 
articles  of  provender,  of  a  dried  and  generally  imperishable 
character.  On  one  side  there  were  also  secured  a  rough  set  of 
5 


98  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

shelves,  on  the  lower  of  which  were  arrayed  a  few  dishes  and 
metallic  utensils  for  cooking,  and  on  the  upper  about  a  dozen 
well-worn  volumes.  Floor  to  this  unique  saloon  there  was 
none,  except  of  beaten  clay,  which,  indeed,  was  nearly  as  hard 
ened,  with  much  use,  as  if  it  had  been  laid  in  the  adobe  itself. 

With  all  its  homeliness,  there  was  an  air  of  neatness  in  the 
room.  There  were  curtains  of  simple  calico  to  the  windows, 
and  on  the  little  seats  in  front  of  them  were  bunches  of  wild 
flowers.  Then,  again,  the  floor,  if  only  of  clay,  was  free  from 
litter,  and  the  tables  and  dressers  were  as  clean  as  hands  cculd 
make  them.  Over  the  mantelpiece  appeared  a  species  of  rude 
trophy,  with  a  couple  of  rifles  and  a  fowling-piece  crossed,  a 
bowic  knife,  with  a  pair  of  pistols  and  a  belt,  pouch,  and  pow 
der-flask  ;  the  whole  crowned  with  a  stag's  horns,  which  made 
a  picturesque  apex  to  the  mass.  Underneath  the  arms  were  two 
or  three  pairs  of  spurs,  on  either  side  of  an  old-fashioned  mir 
ror,  a  piece  of  furniture  rather  long  for  its  width,  and  being  one 
of  the  very  few  of  her  household  treasures  which  poor  Mrs. 
Armstrong  had  been  able  to  bring  in  safety  across  the  plains. 

The  roof  of  the  edifice  projected  some  ten  feet  beyond  its 
facade,  forming  a  kind  of  piazza,  useful  for  shade  and  shelter ; 
and  it  was  here  that  I  was  deserted  by  my  guide,  after  I  had 
complied  with  his  suggestion  to  dismount. 

"  I'll  jest  take  off  the  saddle,  and  put  the  critter  in  the  comd" 
observed  Mr.  Railes,  "while  you  walk  in  and  see  the  folks. 
'Taint  supper-time  yet,  but  the  gals  '11  be  on  hand,  and  glad  to 
see  ye." 

The  speaker  was  gone  before  I  could  remonstrate,  and  I  felt 
somewhat  embarrassed  about  thrusting  myself  thus  unintro- 
duced  and  unasked  into  a  house  which,  although  humble  enough, 
was  evidently  not  a  hostelry,  and  whose  accommodation  must 
clearly  be  of  a  limited  description.  I,  therefore,  paused  in  a 
momentary  perplexity,  which  was  relieved  by  the  opening  of 
the  door.  A  flicker  of  red  light  from  within  fell  on  a  face  and 
figure  which  I  had  110  difficulty  in  recognizing  as  those  of  the 
"pooty  gal  who  lived  with  the  Armstrongs,"  who  had  been 
mentioned  as  wTe  came  by  my  communicative  companion. 

"  You  are  the  gentleman  Ike  and  Lion  saw  on  the  road  ?" 
asked  a  full,  soft  contralto.  "You  are  very  welcome.  Mr. 
Armstrong  is  up  at  the  Bend,  but  will  soon  be  at  home  for  the 
night.  Pray  walk  in." 

Yfhich  I  did,  nothing  loath.  I  see  her  now,  with  her  lithe  yet 
rounded  figure,  and  her  plain  stuff  gown  ;  her  brow  so  low  and 
sweet,  and  the  wonderful  long  lashes,  which  swept  over  eyes 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  99 

more  wonderful  still ;  her  straight  Greek  profile,  her  wealth  of 
massive  black  hair,  her  radiant  teeth,  her  almost  babyish  mouth. 
I  could  go  into  rhapsodies  now  alter  all  these  years,  and  after 
Marian  Kooke  has  become — but  we  must  not  anticipate  ;  neither 
must  we — for  I  hate  double  dealing  of  every  kind — neither  must 
we  mislead  the  reader  regarding  the  relater's  connection  with 
the  more  important  matters  of  this  history.  Therefore,  let  this 
opportunity  be  embraced  to  explain  that,  although  there  exist 
reasons  why  he  should  here  and  there  verify  them  by  referring 
to  his  personal  knowledge  and  experience,  his  individuality  has 
little  concern  with  them  otherwise,  and  will  not  be  obtruded  more 
than  may  ba  strictly  conducive  to  clearness  and  authenticity. 

Two  other  women  were  in  the  room, — Mrs.  Armstrong,  who 
greeted  the  stranger  with  homely  kindness,  and  pretty  Kitty, 
who  received  him  with  shy  cordiality.  Presently  the  door  open 
ed  again,  and  my  avant  couriers  were  added  to  the  assemblage. 
The  dog  walked  straight  up  to  my  side,  and  looked  steadily  in 
my  face  with  an  expression  of  deliberate  inquiry  ;  and  on  my 
responding  with  some  customary  indications  of  amity,  he  gave 
three  slow  and  ponderous  wags  of  his  tail,  and  went  and  dropped 
heavily  in  a  corner. 

"  He  never  forgits  any  one  he's  seed  afore,"  remarked  Ike, 
gravely,  "  nor  he  couldn't  if  he  tried.  He  knows  all  them  as 
lives  011  the  Bar,  and  all  them  as  ever  came  to  it,  and  all  them 
as  he  don't  know  ain't  wuth  knowin'." 

Xo  one  venturing  to  combat  this  proposition,  its  enunciator 
seated  himself  near  his  dog,  and  commenced  a  process  of  an  or 
namental  character,  intended  to  enrich  some  portion  of  his 
costume. 

**  He's  allers  quiet  and  good-tempered,"  said  the  old  lady,  in 
an  undertone,  ;i  'cept  when  he  talks  about  the  plaguy  gold,  and 
then  he  only  wants  to  talk  a  bit  too  much.  He  used  to  be  wuss 
than  he  is,  but  I  think  it  made  him  kind  o'  brighter,  bavin*  the 
dreadful  time  with  the  Injuns  on  the  plains.  Ike  fit,  and  fit  well, 
but  he  got  hurt  bad,  and  was  some  time  gittin'  over  it." 

"  You  seem  to  have  had  a  narrow  escape." 

"  If  there  was  e'er  a  time  the  Lord  visibly  interfered, "answer 
ed  Mrs.  Armstrong,  piously,  i;itwas  on  that  day.  Our  folks  did 
their  best,  but  they  was  well  nigh  spent,  and  we  women  did  our 
best — not  that  /  should  have  had  strength  to  do  anything  if  it 
hadn't  been  for  the  pluck  of  that  eere  young  lady,  Mary  Anne, 
there,  who's  got  more  grit  than  any  gal  I  ever  see  in  all  my 
born  days,  and  kept  Kitty  and  me  up  a  cheerin'  us.  and  settin'  us 
the  example  of  loadin'  and  thin'  just  as  reglar's  if  she'd  been  a 
sodger." 


100  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

"  The  gentleman  will  think  me  quite  an  Amazon,"  said  the 
young  lady  referred  to,  laughing. 

"So  ye  are,  I  reckon.  You  amazed  me  enough,  and  the  In- 
juris  enough,  and  more  too,  that  time,  I'm  thinkin'.  But  'twould 
all  have  been  no  use  if  it  hadn't  been  for  that  chief  I  hated  the 
sight  of  afore,  and  thought  no  better  than  a  murderer !  Jest 
stoowin'  how  folks  takes  themselves  in  in  this  world,  and  how 
slow  we  oughterbe  a  sittin'  in  judgment  on  our  fellow  critters." 

"You  know,  ma,"  said  Kitty  Armstrong,  coming  into  the 
light  with  her  golden  hair,  and  bright,  bashful  face,  "  you  know 
ma,  that  Mr.  GifFord  said  all  the  time  that  the  chief  would  be 
true  to  us,  and  felt  sure  he'd  git  us  out  of  trouble  at  last." 

"  I  know,  I  know.  But  then  you  see  the  frontier  boys  thought 
Mr.  Gifibrd  knew  too  much  'bout  books  to  know  much  'bout 
Injuns  ;  and  they  was  afeard  he  wouldn't  like  to  fight  much 
hisself  when  the  time  came,  so  that  kind  o'  shook  and  wavered 
me  in  puttin'  much  trust  in  his  idees." 

"  And  he  did  fight  arter  all  !" 

"Like  a  lion  !  and  saved  that  poor  critter's  life  in  the  corner 
inter  the  bargain.  Folks  learn  a  good  deal  they  never  expect 
to  when  they  come  to  cross  the  plains." 

The  huge  dog  hero  rose  and  stalked  majestically  to  the  door, 
where,  turning  his  head  on  one  side,  he  listened  for  a  time  with 
profound  attention  ;  after  which,  apparently  satisfied,  he  slowly 
marched  back,  and  resumed  his  position  in  the  corner.  Kitty 
answered  my  inquiring  look. 

"He heard  us  mention  Mr.  Gifford's  name,  and  I  s'pose  that 
reminded  him  'twas  about  time  for  him  and  the  rest  to  be  in  to 
supper.  He  always  knows  when  it's  time  for  'em  to  come  in." 

"He  knows  everythink,  he  does,"  asserted  Ike,  with  energy. 
"  The  time  to  eat,  and  the  time  to  drink,  when  to  git  up,  and 
when  to  lie  down.  He  knows  things  that  pison,  and  he'll  Avarn 
ye  on  'em  if  you  watch  him.  He  knows  friends  from  foes 
sooner  than  any  man  does,  and  none  on  'em  can  pull  the  wool 
over  his  eyesr  He'd  tell  ye  where  all  the  gold  is,  only  he  thinks 
'twould  be  bad  for  ye  to  grow  too  rich  aU  of  a  suddint ;  don't 
ye,  Lion  ?' 

The  dog  looked  gravely  at  his  master,  and  gave  three  thumps 
on  the  floor  Avith  his  great  tail. 

"  Ye  see  he  knows  every  Avord  ye  say  to  him.  What's  more, 
he  knows  Avhat  ye  say  to  each  other,  only  he  don't  kear  much 
'bout  your  noticin'  it,  for  fear 't  would  make  ye  cautious,  and  he 
likes  to  keep  posted  in  all  that's  goin'  on.  Don't  ye,  Lion?" 

'Lion  gave  the  same  response  as  before,  but  he  no  longer 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  101 

awaited  further  questioning,  but  rose  promptly,  and  again  went 
to  the  door,  and  listened  ;  and  this  tune  his  rcconnoissance  was 
more  satisfactory,  for  he  quickly  leaped  up  and  opened  the  door 
with  the  greatest  ease,  pushing  up  the  latch  with  his  paw,  and 
giving  a  bark  of  welcome.  Immediately  after,  four  men  entered 
the  little  cabin. 


CHAPTER  H. 

"HERE  we  are,  mother,"  cried  Seth  Armstrong,  cheerily. 
"Here  we  are,  richer  by  five  eagles  than  we  was  in  the  mornin'. 
'Taint  much,  to  be  sure,  with  flour  at  fifty  dollars  a  barrel,  and 
salt  pork  a  dollar  a  pound,  and  boots  at  two  ounces  !  But  it's 
gittin'  on,  and  kcepin'  our  head  above  water,  which  is  more  than 
many  poor  critters  are  doin' just  at  present.  Servant,  sir,  didn't 
see  you  afore  ;  come  to  stay  a  night  with  us  ?  Thate  right, 
We'll  tiy  and  make  you  as  comfortable  as  we  kin,  though  the 
coyotes  do  haowl  some  and  the  shake-down  ain't  jest  like  the 
Astor  House.  Kitty,  I  hope  there's  something  to  give  the  gen 
tleman  for  supper." 

"  There's  six  of  us  men,"  remarked  Luke,  with  a  good-humor- 
ed  essay  at  introduction,  "  six  in  all,  by  good  rights,  though  Ike, 
there,  allers  reckpns  seven  That's  the  old  man,  and  this  is  me, 
and  this  here's  Dr.  Landale  ;  he's  a  Britisher,  he  is,  but  he's  a 
good  kind  of  a  man  for  all  that,  and  ain't  stuck  up  none. 
And  that  man  play  in'  with  the  dog,  that's  Hugh  Gifibrd. 
As  to  mother  and  the  gals,  you've  made  acquaintance  your 
selves." 

"  Glad  to  know  you,  sir,"  quoth  the  doctor,  "  only  I  hope  you 
didn't  come  to  the  Bar  on  the  recommendation  of  that  busy 
body,  Pangburn.  He's  sent  so  many  with  the  idea  that  we  were 
shovelling  out  gold  by  the  ton  as  to  cause  some  disappointment 
We're  just  paying  our  way,  that's  all ;  with  a  good  chance  every 
day  of  striking  a  lead  that  may  bring  us  to  fortune." 

"Fortune!"  echoed  a  grave  voice  from  the  corner.  "Xot 
with  one  at  such  ill  terms  with  the  goddess  as  me,  I  fear." 

'•  You  1  Xonsense !"  said  the  Scotchman.  "If  she  were  re 
solved  to  make  a  dead  set  against  you,  you'd  have  left  your 
bones  among  the  Pawnees.  You  Americans  are  always  so  im 
patient.  You  must  build  a  house,  a  ship,  a  reputation,  a  fortune 


102  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

in  a  clay;  you  do  sometimes,  and  what  is  the  consequence? 
Your  house  totters  at  the  push  of  a  child ;  your  ship  goes  to  bits 
in  the  first  gale ;  your  reputations  are  bright  and  shining  as  soap 
bubbles,  and  as  lasting ;  and  your  riches  take  wings  and  fly  away 
before  you  learn  how, to  spend  them." 

'«  <""Our'n"y 'o;i^,v  said  Luke,  as  he  seated  himself  at  a  table,  and 
prepared  to  weigh  the  glittering  dust,  which  he  poured  from  a 
b^ielkfcfcni 'bag. \  '5.  Leastways,  not  afore  we  git  to  divide  more'n 
-eight  dollars  'and  a/half'a  day." 

"  I  don't  b'lievein  hasty  got  fortin'  no  more  than  you,  doctor," 
observed  Seth,  approvingly,  "only  I  don't  know  as'Merikins  are 
wuss  than  other  folks  in  such  things.  If  they're  lively  and  spry, 
it's  'cause  they're  in  a  new  country,  and  they  hcv'  to  keep  even 
or  go  behindhand.  We  air  like  a  young  colt,  we  air ;  when  we 
git  older  we'll  git  stiddier." 

"Three  ounces  and  a  half  and  an  eighth,"  announced  Luke 
from  his -scales.  "Nigher  to  six  eagles  than  to  five,  father." 

"That's  above  the  average — above  the  average.  If  we  keep 
on,  p'raps  wre'll  ketch  up  to  what  Mr.  Pangburn  said  we  got,  arter 
all." 

"  Why,"  I  inquired,  "did  he  overstate  your  profits?" 

"Overstate?  Well,  I  reckon  he  did,  some.  He  said  that  we 
was  takin'  out  fifty  dollars  a  day  to  the  man,  and  that  the 
wildest  dreams  of  Golcondy  and  the  Ind  would  soon  be  outstrip 
ped  by  the  wealth  of  S.  Armstrong." 

"  But  what  could  be  his  object?" 

"You  see,  sir,"  growled  the  doctor,  "he  was  just  exerting  one 
of  the  pet  privileges  of  his  countrymen.  Once  understand  that, 
and  they'll  never  deceive  you.  Swallow  all  things,  but  not  for 
getting  the  grains  of  salt.  As  a  mountain  is  to  a  molehill,  so  is 
fifty  dollars  to  the  answer.  A  very  simple  sum  in  proportion, 
and  of  universal  application." 

"You  mustn't  let  Doctor  Landale  excite  your  national  preju 
dices,  sir,"  uttered  the  sweet  contralto  I  had  first  heard.  "He 
has  his  privileges  as  well  as  our  poor  countrymen,  and  we're  all 
afraid  to  offend  him.  You  know  he  keeps  the  key  of  the  medi 
cine  chest,  and  can  always  punish  those  who  vex  him.  Besides, 
if  he  abuses  us  to-day  he  will  praise  us  to-morrow.  Why,  'twas 
only  yesterday  morning  he  was  extolling  the  republic  as  warmly 
as  the  veriest  Yankee  in  the  land;  and  to  a  Yankee  too." 

"  Miss  Rooke  omits  to  explain  the  animus,"  retorted  the  doc 
tor,  "which  was  that  my  natural  pugnacity  was  aroused  by  talk 
of  an  opposite  character." 

"Which  means  that  you  won't  let  Mr.  Gifford  criticize  the 


I 

THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  103 

faults  of  his  countrymen,  a  practice  to  which'you  have  put  in  a 
claim  to  a  monopoly." 

"It's  a  Briton's  birthright  to  grumble,"  urged  the  doctor,  "as 
it  is  a  Yankee's  to  brag;  and  it  seems  contrary  to  nature  that 
either  should  seek,  as  Dick  Kailes  would  call  it,  to  i  swap  their 
privileges.' " 

-I  guess  the  doctor's  coutraiy  enough,"  laughed  Luke.  "We 
all  thought  as  much  when  he  insisted  on  layin'  out  the  street 
here,  and  locatin'  all  the  corner  posts,  science  like,  with  his  in 
struments,  just  'cause  Dick  laughed  at  the  th'odolite." 

"And  why  shouldn't  the  Bar  be  properly  laid  out  ?  This  may 
be  the  site  of  a  prosperous  city.  Here  in  a  few  years  there  may 
be  thousands  of  people,  huge  squares,  flourishing  trade.  This 
spot  may  become  famous  among  the  merchants  of  the  earth,  who 
shall  ilock  hither  with  then*  silks  and  spices  and  precious  stuffs, 
to  exchange  for  the  treasure  and  produce  yielded  by  the  soil. 
Armstrong's  Bar  may  be  the  centre  of  a  powerful  nation,  the 
seat  of  a  great  dynasty,  the  home  of  learning,  the  cradle  of 
genius,  the  temple  of  the  arts.  It  may  become  a  Tyre,  a  Car 
thage,  a  Venice " 

"Doctor,  Doctor!     Ain't  that  awful  like  Zel.  Pangburn?" 

"Well,  perhaps.  But  the  difference  is,  that  I  am  only  specu 
lating  on  what  may  possibly  be,  while  Ue  is  always  lying  about 
that  which  actually  is." 

"'  I'm  thinkin'  there's  about  as  much  romance  hi  one  as  t'other," 
said  the  practical  Luke.  "There  ain't  depth  of  water  here  to 
allow  much  trade.  To  be  sure,  there's  rails.  .But  folks  ain't 
goin'  to  settle  much  on  rails  alone  when  there's  big  rivers  enough 
to  have  ships  and  rails  too.  I  guess  Sacramenty  and  Frisky  '11 
have  to  take  the  rag  off  the  Bar ;  to  say  nuthin'  of  Stockton  and 
Beneshy  and  Murysville." 

"  Who  lives  will  see,"  said  the  doctor,  sententiously.  "  Mean 
while,  let  us  have  our  supper." 

The  meal  was  soon  smoking  on  the  board  ;  rustic  enough,  but 
wholesome,  abundant,  and  clean.  Moreover,  to  be  served  by 
such  fair  hands  was  a  novelty  in  those  days,  and  as  such,  would 
have  given  zest  to  a  far  inferior  repast.  The  tea  was  hot  and 
strong,  the  bacon  tolerable,  the  bread  well  made,  and,  although 
there  were  neither  butter  nor  vegetables,  we  were  used  to  those 
deficiencies  in  the  mines.  Every  one  talked  and  bantered  and 
argued  but  Hugh  GhTord  ;  and  truth  impels  the  confession  that 
that  gentleman  did  not  strike  me  on  this  occasion  as  the  most 
agreeable  member  of  the  little  circle.  When  he  looked  at  me 
at  all — which  was  not  often — there  was  something  like  suspicion 


104  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

% 

in  his  eyes  ;  and  when  he  spoke  to  me — which  was  less  frequent 
still — it  was  with  a  distance  almost  amounting  to  hauteur.  How 
ever,  the  ladies  were  affable,  and  the  other  men  hospitable,  so 
that  I  was  put  at  my  ease  on  the  whole,  in  spite  of  Mr.  Gifford's 
constraint ;  and  the  doctor  was  disposed  to  makeup  for  the  lack 
of  conversational  powers  or  of  good  humor  exhibited  by  the  New 
Englander. 

"  D'ye  stay  long  hereabouts  f  the  former  asked,  as  the  meal 
drew  near  a  conclusion. 

"A — I  don't  quite  know — haven't  made  up  my  mind  ;  but 
w^ould  like  to  see  as  much  of  the  country  as  I  can  ;  the  scenery, 
I  mean,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing." 

I  hesitated  because  I  felt  a  little  guilty.  It  was  evident  that 
the  party  were  not  anxious  to  be  disturbed  in  their  new  home. 
Nor  was  there  any  certainty  that  they  would  or  need  be.  When 
I  first  met  Dick  Kailes  I  had  seen  that  he,  at  least,  was  preju 
diced  against  new  comers,  more  especially  of  a  gold-seeking 
character.  There  was  no  reason  why  I  should  enter  into  the 
explanation  that  I  was  there  in  a  sort  of  half-engineer,  half- 
lawyer  capacity,  with  a  view  to  determine  the  bounds  and  metes 
of  an  old  Spanish-Mexican  grant,  which,  but  for  the  discovery  of 
the  gold,  might  never  have  been  heard  of,  but  which  I  had 
good  grounds  to  think  extended  over  what  was  called  Arm 
strong's  Bar.  There  was  no  reason,  I  repeat,  to  prematurely 
volunteer  such  an  explanation  ;  but,  as  I  answered  the  doctor's 
question,  I  looked  up  and  saw  Hugh  Gifford's  calm,  inquiring 
eyes  fixed  upon  me  in  a  manner  which  made  me  feel  as  if  I  had 
been  guilty  of  a  crime. 

"There  is  lovely  scenery  to  be  found  here,  sir,"  responded  the 
doctor,  in  a  more  earnest  tone  than  usual,  "  scenery  which  is 
different,  indeed,  from  ours,  but  which  sometimes  makes  me  feel 
as  I  used  to  feel  at  home  in  Scotland.  There  is,  it  is  true,  no 
Bay  of  San  Francisco  hereabouts  ;  no  Yo-Semite  cataract,  no 
Monte  Diabolo  ;  little  of  the  grandeur  you  fm'd  along  the  coast 
range  or  in  the  great  sweep  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas  ;  but  I  can 
show  you  valleys  as  picturesque,  lakes  as  secluded  and  peaceful, 
rivers  as  winding  and  pleasant-banked,  and  brooks  as  frolic 
some  as,  I'll  dare  swear,  you've  ever  seen  elsewhere." 

"  You'll  find  the  doctor  an  enthusiast  about  nature,  sir,"  said 
the  contralto;  "he  finds  something  to  like  in  the  hills  and 
trees  and  flowers  of  this  new  country,  if  not  always  in  its  newer 
inhabitants." 

"  The  hills  and  trees  and  flowers  are  not  Yankees,"  grumbled 
the  Scotchman,  "  at  least,  not  yet ;  when  they  bestow  a  few  of  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  105 

outlandish  names  on  spots  in  this  vicinity,  they're  so  prodigal  of 
in  those  more  thickly  settled,  I  dare  say  my  admiration  may  cool. 
It's  hard  to  keep  up  any  enthusiasm  about  a  Jackass  Gulch,  or 
to  cherish  any  sweet  imaginings  about  a  Murderer's  Bar.  The 
place  they  call  Dead  Mule  Canon  is  said  to  be  one  of_the  most 
lovely  ravines  in  California ;  and  I  can  bear  witness  to  the 
beauty  of  Wake-up  Lake;  but  who  can  preserve  abiding  inter 
est  in  spots  degraded  by  such  diabolical  nomenclature  l?  Why. 
the  poor  natives  and  half-breeds  should  put  thesis  rascals  to  the 
blush  were  there  any  shame  in  them,  by  the  contrast  between 
then*  own  melodious  and  appropriate  names,  and  the  ruffianly 
substitutes  of  the  new-comers." 

I  heartily  coincided  in  the  justice  of  the  doctor's  stricture,  but 
hinted  that  the  solecisms  he  complained  of  were  committed  by 
the  ignorant  and  thoughtless  Western  men,  uneducated  and 
little  used  to  pick  their  expressions — the  pioneers  and  vanguard 
of  our  civilization,  who  would  be  closely  followed  by  others  with 
more  delicate  ears,  and  respecters  of  euphony,  who  would  banish 
and  replace  by  others  more  suitable  the  barbarous  appellatives 
of  their  predecessors.  But  the  doctor  demurred  even  to  this 
reasonable  probability  ;  he  doubted  it — he  knew  what  it  was  to 
give  a  dog  a  bad  name — and  he  believed  Jackass  Gulch  would 
be  Jackass  Gulch  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

The  evening1  passed  with  no  greater  jars  than  such  mild  con 
troversies,  and  I  found  myself  so  much  absorbed,  partly  by  the 
presence  of  the  gentler  sex,  and  partly  by  interest  in  people  so 
different  from  most  of  those  with  whom  I  had  lately  been  in  con 
tact,  that  a  circumstance  quite  slipped  from  my  memory,  which 
otherwise  might  have  gained  for  me  a  more  assured  welcome  at 
the  outset.  It  was  only  when  Dick  Railes  brought  in  my  sad 
dle  bags,  at  a  late  hour,  saying,  he  "  s'posedTdliketo  have 'em 
ni^h  me  when  I  turned  in,"  that  the  circumstance  recurred  to  my 
mind.  The  postmaster  of  the  settlement  I  had  left  in  the 
morning  had  confided  to  my  care  a  package  of  letters,  apparent 
ly  some  twenty  in  number,  for  Armstrong's  Bar — and  they  were 
to  be  given  to  Seth  Armstrong.  It  was  not  unusual,  in  the 
absence  of  any  regular  postal  arrangements,  to  avail  in  this 
manner  of  private  carriage,  and  to  intrust  the  delivery  of  the 
missives  to  the  oldest  or  best  known  settler  of  the  neighbor 
hood  where  they  were  addressed. 

i;A  thousand  pardons,"  I  exclaimed,  "  for  keeping  back  what 
some  of  you  may  be,  anxiously  expecting  ;  but  you  have  made 
my  evening  so  agreeable  as  to  drive  all  other  thoughts  from  my 
mind." 

5* 


106  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

The  package  was  promptly  given  to  Seth,  who,  after  reading 
the  superscription  with  grave  and  evidently  satisfied  deliberation, 
broke  the  seals  and  counted  over  the  letters  : — "S.  Armstrong, 
Mr.  Seth  Armstrong,  Seth  Armstrong,  Esquire  ;  that's  me. 
Mrs.  Colonel  Seth  Armstrong,  postmarked  Woods  County,  Ohio  ; 
mother,  that's  you.  Phineas  Pitcher,  care  of  Colonel  Armstrong, 
Armstrong's  Bar;  Daniel  Spike,  ditto;  Eliphalet  Pike,  the  same; 
Patrick  Mike,  ditto  ;  Mr.  Ebenezer  Skinner  (late  of  Biddeford, 
Maine),  the  same  ;  these  belongs  to  the  boys  clown  to  the  Bend. 
Eleanor  Doolittle — that's  wrong,  that  'd  oughter  gone  to  Yan 
kee  Jim's.  Senor  Diego  y  Santiago  de  Aiamedn,  postmarked 
Mariposa  ;  that's  the  greaser  we  hired  to  take  keer  of  the  crit 
ters,  and  who  went  off  on  Kitty  s  gray  mustang.  What's  this — 
Massachusetts — per  Golden  City — San  Francisco — Hugh  Gif- 
ford,  Esquire." 

The  young  man  held  out  his  hand  to  receive  his  letter,  and  I 
saw  a  sombre  shadow  flit  across  his  face  as  he  did  so.  There 
was  certainly  none  of  the  anxious  yet  pleased  alacrity  in  his 
manner  which  people  commonly  exhibit  on  receiving  letters, 
three  thousand  miles  from  home.  He  went  to  his  corner,  and 
his  face*  grew  no  brighter  as  he  looked  at  the  handwriting  on 
the  missive ;  but  the  others  were  too  much  engrossed  with  their 
own  or  their  friends'  letters  to  notice  his  disquietude.  Yet  no; 
there  were  eyes  besides  mine  fixed  upon  him.  For  as  I  turned 
away  lest  my  gaze,  as  it  had  once  or  twice  before  to-night, 
should  attract  his  attention,  it  fell  upon  the  countenance  of 
Marian  Rooke.  She  was  studying  Hugh  Gilford's.  Her  lips 
were  slightly  parted,  and  the  color  was  coming  arid  going  on  her 
olive  cheek  as  with  one  who  watches  for  some  critical  contin 
gency.  She  sat  opposite  to  him  at  some  distance,  and  had  in 
her  lap  some  sort  of  woman's  work  ;  her  hands  had  left  it,  and 
one,  wandering  up  to  her  brow,  had  pushed  back  the  mass  of 
black  hair,  making  the  forehead  look  wider  than  before ;  while 
her  elbow  rested  on  a  table  by  her  side.  I  looked  but  for  a 
moment  or  two,  feeling  some  compunction  at  penetrating  a  mys 
tery  wherein  I  had  no  concern.  But  in  those  two  moments 
were  crowded,  thus  inadvertently,  all  manner  of  traces  of  what 
had  gone  before,  all  manner  of  prophecies  of  what  was  to  come 
hereafter.  I  had  already  been  told  something  of  the  common 
vicissitudes  of  these  people — something  of  the  history  of  their 
mere  outer  lives;  I  had  suddenly  gone  beyond  this,  and  had 
stepped  within  the  portal  of  the  history  of  then.'  hearts. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  107 


CHAPTER  III. 

I  SHALL  make  no  further  apology  than  has  been  already  made 
or  implied,  for  either  extinguishing  my  personality  when  it  be 
comes  necessary  that  I  should  be,  in  a  manner,  a  spiritual  rather 
than  a  corporeal  witness  of  the  scenes  which  are  to  follow,  or  re 
appearing  when  such  personality  should  bo  remembered  in  the 
few  wherein  I  was  a  positive  actor.  The  reader  will  be  satisfied, 
I  trust,  with  the  assurance  that  my  sources  of  information  may 
be  in  all  cases  implicitly  relied  upon;  and  that  in  every  instance 
when  I  was  not  absolutely  present  in  propria  jMrsona,  I  spared 
no  pains  to  obtain  both  personal  and  circumstantial  testimony  as 
to  what  occurred.  So  far  as  my  present  agency  was  concerned, 
I  was  merely  a  dcus  ex  machina — that  is  to  say,  a  Mercury — to 
the  extent  of  bringing  letters  to  Armstrong's  Bar,  which  paved 
the  way  to  my  becoming  more  intimate  there  afterwards — but  I 
must  overcome  this  absurd  tendency  to  anticipate. 

The  scene  which  appeared  so  full  of  significance  to  the  ob 
server  was  one  which  could  be  but  of  rare  occurence.  Mails 
were  not  frequent,  and  letters  for  small  and  remote  settlements 
were  often  long  in  reaching  their  destination  in  the  early  mining 
days.  Xot  more  than  twice  or  thrice  before  had  letters  arrived 
for  the  dwellers  on  Armstrong's  Bar.  Not  more  than  twice  or 
thrice,  then,  could  such  a  cause  have  risked  the  betrayal  of  a 
secret  like  that  the  observer  gaw,  or  thought  he  saw,  on  this  oc 
casion.  Those  who  were  most  interested  in  such  a  secret — if  it 
existed — spoke  of  the  letter  next  morning  in  a  way  which  might 
well  make  it  appear  imaginary. 

It  was  early  morning,  and  they  were  walking  on  the  luxuriant 
virgin  turf  which  carpeted  the  banks  of  the  stream.  A  beauti 
ful  dewy  morning,  with  spangles  everywhere  on  the  ground  and 
no  clouds  in  the  sky,  except  some  long,  gorgeously-colored 
strips,  which  latticed  the  rising  sun.  The  gold-seekers  were 
not  yet  at  their  daily  toil,  and  Marian  and  Gifibrd  often  rose  and 
walked  thus  early,  before  the  others  were  even  stirring. 

"  So  you  have  had  a  letter?" 

"  Yes." 

"  From — Virginia  ?" 

"  From  Virginia." 

"She  is  well,  I  hope?" 


108  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"She  writes  as  if  she  were." 

li  And  your  friend,  her  brother,  and  the  rest  of  the  family?" 

"  Quite  well,  she  says." 

"  She  is  anxious  about  you,  of  course?" 

"  She  is  anxious  about  my  prospects." 

"Prospects?" 

"  Yes  ;  of  making  money,  to  be  sure." 

"  And  is  that  all  she  is  anxious  about  ?" 

"  What  else  is  there  she  should  care  for  ?" 

"  What  else  ?  Why,  your  health ;  your  thoughts ;  the  state 
of  your  mind ;  the  books  you  have  read,  whether  by  nature  or 
man  ;  the  people  you  have  met ;  the  views  you  have  seen  ;  your 
recollections  of  the  dear  days  which  have  gone  by  ;  your  hopes 
for  the  future.  Should  she  care  for  none  of  these  ?" 

"  She  has  been  taught — as  I  have — that  ah1  these  things  are  sub 
ordinate  to  'the  'chief  one.  If  I  have  health  or  strength,  luck  or 
cunning,  such  as  enable  me  to  gain  gold,  the  rest  is  as  nothing." 

"  I  think  you  must  wrong  her  ;  a  true  woman  cannot  be  so 
mercenary." 

"No  one  was  ever  called  a  bigot  among  an  assemblage  of 
roundheads.  The  talk  of  the  people  about  her,  their  eveiy  aspi 
ration,  their  thoughts  when  they  lie  down  and  when  they  get 
up,  by  their  firesides,  in  the  market,  in  the  very  house  of  prayer 
itself,  is  of  money,  nothing  but  money.  If  her  father  falls 
asleep  after  dinner,  he  mumbles  about  stocks  and  prices  ;  if  a 
neighbor  dies,  he  speculates  011  the  cost  of  the  funeral ;  the  very 
atmosphere  is  weighed  down  with  covetous  whisperings  and  the 
echoes  of  hard  bargains.  I  do  not  blame  her." 

They  were  strolling  on  as  they  talked,  and  he  broke  little  bits 
of  twigs  from  the  bushes,  and  cast  them  idly  into  the  stream. 

"  Then  she  knows  that  my  life  has  been  darkened  by  poverty. 
That  there  are  many — not  more  industrious  and  not  more  clever, 
perhaps — who  are  far  011  the  road  to  success,  while  I  am  still  a 
beggar.  She  knows  that  such  little  talent  as  I  have  can  never 
buy  me  distinction  or  honor  in  this  country,  unless  I  can  back 
its  feeble  stress  with  gold.  She  knows  that  my  father  was  an 
unfortunate  '  gentleman,'  and  lived  to  be  patronized  by  his  shoe 
maker,  and  to  receive  half  scornful  nods  from  his  tailor." 

"  That  made  him  none  the  worse." 

"  But  more  unhappy.  The  proudest  spirit  breaks  at  last  when 
thrust  into  the  dust  by  fortune,  to  be  trampled  on  for  ever  by 
the  vulgar  and  the  mean,  as  he  was.  Curse  them  !  These  men 
can  see  the  difference  in  the  blood  of  their  cattle  and  pigs — they 
know  the  distinctions  between  the  cart-horse  and  the  racer — 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  109 

they  acknowledge  gradations  in  the  quality  and  value  of  unrea 
soning  beasts,  but  deny  them  to  the  nobler  beings  their  Maker  has 
created  in  His  image  I  And  this  they  call  democracy  !" 

"  Perhaps  they  go  too  far  the  other  way  in  older  countries. 
Perhaps  they  are  too  ready  to  set  men  over  each  other,  and  ex 
act  honors  for  them  which  should  only  be  paid  to  Him  alone." 

"Perhaps.  But  what  is  the  idolatry  they  substitute  here? 
A  very  Mammon's.  The  naked  worship  of  the  golden  calf. 
They  give  plenty  of  religious  liberty  otherwise.  You  may 
worship  as  you  list,  or  let  it  alone  altogether  ;  but  dare  to  scorn 
or  hold  in  contempt  this  money-god — dare  to  refuse  your  hom 
age  to  his  priests,  never  minding  how  they  got  their  benefices — 
dare  to  dissent  from  the  thirty-nine  articles  in  the  prayer-book 
of  Plutus,  and  although  the  tortures  of  the  Inquisition  or  the 
fires  of  Smithfield  may  not  be  revived  for  your  body,  as  for  un 
happy  heretics,  your  social  punishment  and  disabilities  will 
hardly  be  less.  Being  in  Rome,  you  must  do  as  Romans  do  ; 
you  must  conform  or  starve.*' 

The  girl  gazed  thoughtfully  in  the  stream  for  a  moment,  and 
answered : 

"  Your  peculiar  experience  makes  you  unjust,  I  think.  There 
are  many  poor  men  whose  names  will  live  in  the  nation's  histo 
ry  ;  men  who  never  had  wealth  or  strove  for  it,  and  whom  their 
countrymen  yet  delighted  to  honor.  I  see  no  harm  in  your  try 
ing  honestly  to  amass  a  fortune  ;  it  is  necessary  to  your  happiness 
— you  are  sensitive,  and  fret  under  the  ills,  real  and  imaginary, 
which  want  of  it  entails ;  it  may  hereafter  enable  you  to  do 
good  ;  why  should  you  not,  then,  struggle  to  obtain  it  ?" 

"Why  not,  indeed?" 

' '  And  yet,  considered  singly  and  abstractedly,  what  an  igno 
ble  incentive  to  exertion." 

"Ignoble?" 

"  I  call  it  so.  That  is,  for  any  one  capable  of  anything  higher 
or  nobler,  and  having  in  view  the  elevation  of  those  whom  he 
loves  and  who  love  him.  Now,  if  I  were  a  man,  and  had  a — 
Virginia " 

"WeH!" 

i '  That  is,  supposing  Virginia  to  be  the  Virginia  she  would 
have  to  be*  for  me  to  love  her,  I  should  feel  degraded  in  her 
eyes  even  by  the  avowal — the  confession  that  money  was  the 
principal  object  of  my  ambition.  As  an  accessory  to  comfort 
and  convenience  it  might  be  well  enough,  and  not  to  be  de 
spised.  But  I  should  not  believe  I  truly  loved — nay.  more,  I 
doubt  if  any  one  ever  truly  loved — when  the  thought  of  the  be- 


110  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

loved  object  did  not  awaken  a  loftier  ambition,  if  there  were 
need  of  any  at  all.  I  should  feel  that  to  accomplish  some  noble 
action — to  attach  my  name  to  some  deed  or  cause  which  shou  d 
enlighten  or  confer  a  benefit  on  mankind — to  aid  the  oppressed, 
or  to  teach  truth  when  truth  was  unpopular,  and  its  advocates 
had  to  contend  against  the  powerful,  the  scornful,  and  the  un 
willing  ;  I  should  feel  that  to  do  these,  or  any  of  these,  was  of 
more  worth  as  a  trophy  to  lay  at  the  feet  of  the  loved  one  than 
all  the  gold  that  lies  buried  in  the  hills  of  California!" 

The  girl  turned  and  stood  still  in  her  earnestness  as  she  spoke ; 
her  tall  figure  dilating,  her  breast  heaving,  and  her  great  black 
eyes  flashing  with  enthusiasm. 

Something  like  a  flush  of  shame  mounted  to  Gilford's  brow  as 
he  replied  : 

"And  if  your  idol  cared  not  for  these  offerings — held  them 
cheap  to  the  more  material  if  less  romantic  one *?" 

"  It  should  be  mine  to  lift  her  to  a  higher  sphere — to  elevate 
her  nature  to  a  height  which  is  possible  for  every  human  soul 
when  rightly  directed  and  adequately  inspired — to  a  height 
where  her  desires  would  cease  to  be  grovelling,  her  aspirations 
incapable  of  being  mean." 

They  walked  on  again,  and  the  young  man  ceased  to  break 
twigs  and  cast  them  into  the  stream.  The  girl  resumed  half 
musingly : 

"  For  why  is  love  given  in  this  dark  world,  but  that  its  light 
may  enable  us  to  help  each  other  upward  and  onward  in  the 
sublimest  path ;  but  that  the  devotion  of  one  soul  to  another 
may  endow  it  with  the  clearest,  the  most  unerring  perception  as 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  beloved  spirit  may  be  developed  to 
the  highest  excellence — to  the  grandest  expansion  of  which  it  is 
capable  ;  and,  knowing  the  means,  should  continually  stimulate 
the  chosen  one  to  their  adoption  *?" 

"  I  fear  Virginia  would  scarcely  comprehend  such  thoughts  as 
these." 

"  Then  you  should  teach  her." 

Once  more  they  wandered  in  silence,  presently  broken  by  Hugh : 

"  Perhaps  one  day  you  will  teach  her  for  me — you  know  we 
are  always  to  be  friends." 

"  Always.     But  does  Virginia  say  nothing  more  ?" 

"  Not  so  much  as  Marian  has  said  this  morning." 

"  Marian  !     It  was  Miss  Rooke  last  night." 

"  Ah,  there  was  a  stranger  ;  and  as  Mrs.  Armstrong  persists 
in  changing  your  name  into  one  she  thinks  more  euphonious,  it 
was  needless  to  advertise  the  discrepancy." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  Ill 

"  Good  Mrs.  Armstrong ;  she  always  would  have  it  l  Mary 
Anne,'  and  it  was  too  unimportant  to  correct  her.  The  name  was 
familiar  to  her.  and  I  suppose  her  ear  would  recognize  no  dis 
tinction  were  I  to  have  done  so.  The  strange  gentleman  seemed 
interested  in  our  little  circle." 

"  He  seemed  inquisitive  enough." 

"  Was  he — disagreeably  so  ?  I  did  not  notice  it.  He  struck 
me  as  educated  and  well  bred." 

"  Do  you  think  him  attractive — handsome  ?" 

"  I  scarcely  scrutinized  him  closely  enough  to  answer  as  to 
the  latter,"  said  Marian,  laughing,  "but  I  did  think  him  rather 
attractive." 

Gilford's  brow  clouded  slightly.  "  He  is  a  gentleman,  or 
something  like  one,  and  you  have  been  thrust  among  rude  peo 
ple  of  late." 

"  But  very,  veiy  kind  ones,  all.  The  Armstrongs  have  been 
like  parents  to  me,  and  what  could  be  more  courteous,  nay, 
chivalrous,  in  the  way  of  demeanor  to  a  poor  lorn  damsel  than 
that  of  Luke  1" 

Again  the  cloud.  "  Luke  is  at  no  pains  to  conceal  his  admi 
ration." 

"  Admiration  !  Luke  !  "Why,  he  feels  toward  me  something 
as  he  does  toward  dear  Kitty — the.  regard  of  a  brother." 

"  And  brothers  in  his  rank  of  life  ^are  always  bringing  their 
sisters  fragrant  wild  flowers,  and  curious  bits  of  minerals,  and 
strange  fragments  of  golden  dust  and  ore-bearing  quartz ;  and 
finding  lovely  mountain  views  for  them,  and  solemn,  glassy 
lakes  among  the  hills;  and  training  vines  which  bear  sweet- 
scented  blossoms  over  their  chamber  windows  I" 

••Xo,  no;  these  are  for  all  of  us;  and,  besides,  you  forget 
that  I  am  'the  stranger  within  their  gates.'  " 

"  Not  always  to  remain  so,  perchance." 

"To  remain,"  said  Marian,  putting  the  most  obvious  con 
struction  upon  an  ambiguous  speech,  "  until  midsummer,  at 
furthest.  My  friends  here  are  very  good,  but  I  have  work  to 
do  for  myself.  When  we  first  came  1  was  ignorant  as  to  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  settlement ;  but  it  is  clear  now  that  I 
must  go  to  one  of  the  towns.  There  are  no  children  to  teach 
in  the  mines.  They  are  to  be  sought  among  the  families  of 
traders  in  thexcities." 

"  You  will  go  forth  alone  ?" 

"  Why  not?  It  is  my  duty — should  be  my  pleasure — and  I 
must  earn  my  bread." 

"  You  are  not  fit  for  such  a  life.     You  have  not  been  trained 


OR, 

to  it.  You  will  find  its  drudgery  irksome,  if  not  insupport 
able." 

"I  do  not  fear.it.  I'believe  we  are  so  constituted  that  we 
can  accomplish  almost  anything,  however  foreign  or  repugnant 
at  first  sight  it  may  appear — anything  which  is  undertaken  with 
a  firm  heart  and  a  resolute  purpose.  I  am  grateful  to  these 
worthy  people,  but,  except  for  their  love  and  kindness,  do  not 
mean  to  be  under  obligations  to  them.  I  shall  go  in  July." 

"  And  I,  I  think,  before  that." 

"Your 

"  I  am  impatient — feverish.  The  beggarly  gains  to  be  gleaned 
on  the  Bar  may  answer  for  the  others — not  for  me.  Nor  is 
there  any  necessity  they  should.  The  newspapers  may  contain 
exaggerations,  but  it  is  certain  that  great  discoveries  are  being 
made  all  over  the  country.  The  gold-lists  of  the  mail-steamers 
tell  a  story  not  invented  by  the  scribblers.  What  others  do,  I 
can  do." 

"There  is  a  chance  at  any  moment  of  striking  vast  deposits 
here  as  well  as  elsewhere." 

"  A  chance,  yes.  But  we  have  been  here  several  months,  and 
the  yield  has  been  most  niggardly — less  than  the  average  at  any 
of  the  surface-diggings  we  have  accounts  of.  It  was  thought, 
from  the  situation  of  the  river, 'and  its  having  its  rise  so  close  by 
in  the  mountains,  that  this  spot  would  prove  one  of  the  most 
productive  ;  but  it  has  turned  out  the  reverse.  The  Armstrongs 
seem  disposed  to  remain,  but  that  need  not  control  my  course. 
Our  arrangement  of  partnership  is  terminable  any  week,  and 
that  which  satisfies  them  does  not  satisfy  me." 

"  The  rolling  stone " 

"Is  just  the  one  which  does  gather  moss  in  gold  countries. 
It  is  vain  to  waste  time  in  places  where  careful  search  is  unre- 
munerative.  1  believe  the  true  policy  to  be  that  of  moving 
from  point  to  point  with  all  convenient  speed,  so  that,  each  fail 
ing  successively,  another  experiment  may  at  once  be  tried.  Ul 
timately  the  lucky  discovery  must  be  made,  and  fortune  be  the 
result." 

"And,  with  fortune,  happiness?" 

"  Alas  f  who  knows  ?" 


QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  113 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  party  were  at  breakfast,  when  a  growl  from  Lion,  fol 
lowed  by  the  swift  patter  of  a  horse's  hoofs,  told  that  a  stranger 
was  approaching.  "  Somebody  from  the  Bend,  may  be,"  sug 
gested  Seth  Armstrong,  "  come  over  for  their  letters.''  But  his 
helpmate,  looking  out  of  window,  negatived  this  supposition. 
You  could  tell  miners,  indeed,  from  afar  off,  their  almost  invari 
able  dress  being  such  as  was  worn  by  our  friends  at  Armstrong's 
Bar.  A  red  flannel  shirt,  belt,  trousers  thrust  in  strong,  coarse 
boots  rising  above  the  knee,  and  a  wide-brimmed,  felt  sombrero, 
constituted  their  uniform,  which  was  recognizable  from  a  greater 
distance  than  was  commanded  on  the  winding  road  from  the 
windows  of  the  cabin. 

u  'Taint  no  miner,"  said  Luke,  as  he  thrust  his  curly  head  into 
the  aperture  next  to  his  mother's ;  "  'taint  no  miner,  in  a  dress  coat 
and  a  stove-pipe  hat !  Darn  my  skin,"  he  exclaimed  with  sud 
den  interest,  "  if  it  ain't  that  Pangburn  come  back  agin!" 

"Show!"  said  Seth,  "I  thought  we'd  seed  the  last  of  him 
for  a  spell ;  them  lies  o'  liis'n  in  the  '  Mounting  Clarion '  ought  to 
have  kept  him  off  the  Bar  a  month  o'  Sundays." 

••How  little,"  quoth  the  doctor,  "do  you  appreciate  the  Pang- 
burn  turn  of  mind  ;  or  you  might  know  that  nothing  short  of  a- 
pestilence  would  keep  him  away  from  a  place  where  he  wasn't 
wanted." 

"S'poshY  we  set  Lion  on  him,"  suggested  Mr.  Railes,  "and 
then  he  daresn't  git  off  his  hossl" 

"No,  no,"  said  Seth,  promptly,  "that  won't  do;  give  the 
critter  a  fan*  show  now  he  is  here ;  only,  doctor,  'praps  if  you  or 
Mr.  Gifford  was  jest  to  hint  that  we  felt  a  little  riled  about  the 
way  he  advertised  the  Bar,  it  might  make  him  kearful  another 
time." 

"•Never  fear,  Uncle  Seth,"  said  the  doctor,  "  but  that  we  will 
administer  proper  admonition.  Not  but  that  the  hide  of  an  alli 
gator  is  less  likely  to  be  proof  against  such  pursuasions  than 
that  of  Zelotes ;  yet,  as  a-  matter  of  duty,  we  will  try  the  ex 
periment." 

The  subject  of  these  complimentary  allusions  was  now  at  the 
door,  and  Ike  being  sent  to  take  charge  of  his  horse,  he  speedily 
made  his  way  into  the  apartment. 


114  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

Mr.  Pangburn  was  about  six  feet  in  height,  and  was  arrayed 
in  a  seedy  black  dress  coat  and  trousers,  the  latter  stuck  into  a 
pair  of  huge  Wellington  boots,  ornamented  with  red  morocco 
tops.  He  wore  a  high  shirt  collar,  extremely  grimy,  and  en 
circled  by  a  faded  pink  and  yellow  muslin  cravat.  On  his  head 
was  a  tall  black  beaver  hat,  and  on  his  hands  enormous  buckskin 
gloves.  His  hah*,  beard,  face,  eyes,  and  teeth,  seemed  all  of  one 
color,  namely  a  dirty  whitish  brown ;  and  the  latter  projected  in 
a  manner  highly  suggestive  of  the  species  called  the  rodentia. 
Of  beard,  indeed,  there  was  little,  except  on  the  end  of  the 
chin,  where  it  focalized  in  a  pointed,  bristly  tuft.  Mr.  Pang 
burn' s  inability  to  quite  cover  his  teeth  with  his  lips  gave  a  not 
otherwise  prepossessing  countenance  a  sardonic  expression  fear 
ful  to  behold  ;  and  his  habit  of  shutting  one  eye  in  conversation 
as  he  launched  forth  his  sentences,  completed  the  more  salient 
attractions  of  his  physiognomy.  Such  was  the  remarkable  figure 
which  now  made  its  way  into  the  little  house  of  the  Arm 
strongs. 

"  How  air  you,  Kernul  Armstrong,  and  ladies,  and  how  air 
you,  boys  and  strangers!  Glad  to  see  ye.  Here's  twenty 
copies  of  the  last  Clarion,  'nuff  to  go  all  round  the  settlement, 
never  mind  about  pay,  jest  as  good  for  an  advertisement.  Thank 
you,  mum,  don't  kear  if  I  do,  hain't  liquored  since  I  left  the 
Cascades.  Just  so ;  much  oblcegcd,  and  news  there  ain't  none, 
for  the  last  steamer  had  to  put  into  Acapulco  short  of  coal,  where 
the  capting,  in  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens,  jumped  overboard  and 
cut  his  throat.  That's  all  sence  Toosday,  'xcept  Sacramenty's 
burnt  down  Sunday  night,  fire  lightin'  in  Bella  Union,  gam 
blers  got  fightin',  spilt  the  ile,  spirit  lamps,  run  through  carpet 
roof  into  prayer-meetin'  below,  hull  town  built  up  agin  next 
mornin'  with  cotton-duck;  Kernul,  I'm  a  lookin'  at  yer!" 

This  speech,  delivered  in  a  high  key  and  precisely  as  the 
speaker  would  have  addressed  a  public  meeting,  was  emphasized 
with  innumerable  winks,  and  succeeded  by  what  appeared  to  be 
a  highly  sarcastic  leer,  which,  commencing  with  the  Kernul, 
swept  around  until  it  included  the  entire  company 

"Mr.  Pangburn,"  commenced  Dr.  Landale,  w 
becoming  the  approaching  accents  of  reproof,  "  I 
puted  to  name  to  you  that  we,  who  live  on  the 
quite  satisfied  with  the  account  you  gave  of  us  and  it  last  month, 
in  your  enterprising  journal,  and " 

"  Knew  you  weren't,  knew  you  weren't,"  interrupted  Mr. 
Pangburn,  derisively  ;  "knew  darned  well  you'd  have  your 
dander  up  about  that.  Couldn't  help  it — three  new  placers,  rich 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  115 

diggins'.  broke  out  on  Coyote  Creek  and  Kettletas  Run — public 
attention  to  be  directed  to  twenty  other  place?,  so's  to  keep  the 
rush  from  them — Armstrong's  Bar  one  of  the  twenty ;  two  slugs 
and  hundred  copies  of  the  Clarion — business  you  knd"w — in- 
"crease  the  circulation." 

'•Do  you  mean  to  say  you  publish  false  statements  to  the 
effect  that  gold  is  plenty  where  it  is  scarce,  to  distract  the  atten 
tion  from  those  where  miners  could  really  find  it  ?" 

••False  statements !"'  echoed  Zelotes,  grinning  with  irony. 
"  The  Mounting  Clarion  is  true,  sir,  as  the  needle  to  the  pole, 
to  them  immutable  principles  of  public  weal  and  commercial 
rectitood,  whereon  it  fust  took  its  proud  stand,  and  mocked  the 
embattled  world!  That's  so.  A  story,  sir,  may  kinder  git  the 
color,  as  the  diggers  say,  without  bcin'  stuck  together  out  of 
hull  cloth.  I  allowed  I  had  a  high  opinion  of  Armstrong's  Bar; 
my  sentiments  is  unchanged  and  unalterable.  Folks  oughtn't 
to* find  fault  with  the  lofty  sperits  chained  to  the  oar  of  journal 
ism — enligbtenin'  and  a  rushin'  forrard  the  ungrateful  masses, 
until  they  know  the  hull  truth — until  they're  kind  o'  sot  face  to 
face  with  the  paower  behind  the  throne  !" 

"^Vell,  sir,"  said  the  Doctor,  impatiently,  "being  in  that 
juxtaposition,  I  now  tell  you  that  what  you*  published,  besides 
being  untrue  in  point  of  iact,  was  seriously  prejudicial,  both  to 
the  interest  and  the  convenience  of  this  little  community." 

"Pettikilarise,  pettikilarisc;  state  the  items,  state  the  items !" 

"You  declared  that  the  diggins  on  the  Bar  were  turning  out 
among  the  richest  in  the  country  ;  and,  in  confirmation  of  this 
singular  fable,  you  added  that  the  settlers  were  taking  out  at 
the  rate  of  fifty  dollars  a  day  to  the  man." 

"Jest  so,  jest  so,'  replied  Mr.  Pangburn,  running  his  fingers 
through  his  lank  hair ;  "  them  air  the  facts." 

"Then  how  can  you  justify  them  ?" 

"Justify  'em  ?  I  glory  in  'em.  Measured  by  a  narrer  prin 
ciple  of  temporary  expediency,  they  may  seem  vain  and  illoosive 
to  the  short-sighted  and  rash ;  they  may  illicit  condemnation 
from  the  hasty  and  censorious ;  but  what  care  I  ? 

'  Truth  crushed  to  airth  will  rise  again, 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  her'n ; 
But  error,  wounded,  writhes  in  pain, 
And  dies  aniid  her  worshipper' n.' 

That  'ere  is  the  proud  predicament  of  yours  respectfully,    Z. 
Pangburn." 

"  Your  argument  may  be  forcible,  sir ;  but  I  fail  to  see  its 
application  to  the  practice  of  spreading  false  intelligence." 


116  MARIAN   ROOKE  5    OR, 

"You  ain't  heerd  me  out.  Hear,  and  then  condemn  me  if 
you  kin.  I  said  my  opinions  was  unchanged,  and  I  adhere  to 
my  primary  assertion.  I  stick  to  it  like  death  to  a  dead  nigger. 
I  said  the  Bar  was  a  pooty  place,  and  it  is  a  pooty  place.  I  said 
there  was  rich  diggin's  on  the  Bar,  and  I  b'lieve  that  there  air.' 
What  I  said  about  the  exact  amounts  that  was  took  out,  I  allow 
savored  of  hyperbole.  It  was  a  festive  vision  of  the  happy 
futur',  perhaps,  rather  than  a  cold  recital  of  the  livin'  present. 
But  I'm  ready  to  back  my  opinions,  I  am,  even  on  that  pint.  I 
b'lieve  in  'em,  and  I'm  ready  to  stand  or  perish  with  'em.  What 
I  propose,  Kcrnul  and  gentlemen,  is  a  jint-stock  company — yes ;" 
and  the  speaker,  rising  with  his  theme,  glared  about  with  a 
smile  of  fiendish  sarcasm,  "yes!"  lifting  his  voice  to  a  nasal 
yell.  "  A  jint-stock  company  to  unkiver  and  develop  the  hid 
den  treasures  of  Armstrong's  Bar!" 

"Hooray!"  screamed  Ike,  from  the  corner,  quite  excited 
by  this  oratorical  outburst,  while  Lion  chimed  in  with  a  greivous 
howl. 

"Iknow'd,"  pursued  the  orator,  availing  himself  of  the  general 
stupefaction  which  succeeded  these  demonstrations,  and  his  own 
proposal  to  enforce  its  advantages;  UI  know'cl  when  the 
Mounting  Clarion  spread  its  glad  tidin's  upon  the  air — the  tiOin's 
my  honorable  friend  here  lusts  his  dander  at — that  its  editor 
would  be  blamed,  and  its  sources  of  information  scouted  as  un- 
Avorthy  of  credick  ;  and  I  was  prepared  to  tote  round  the  load 
of  temporary  ignerminy  which  them  tidin's  would  cost  and  in 
volve.  But  Pangburn  looked  to  the  future  like  true  nobility, 
and  found  his  blazon  in  posterity.  That's  so.  He  saw  that 
when  he  should  come  on  the  Bar,  as  he  has  come  among  ye  this 
day,  and  after  explainin'  the  motives  Avhich  actooated  his  course, 
should  offer  to  ratify  his  sentiments,  touchin'  the  riches  of  the 
location,  by  puttin'  down  his  own  dimes,  and  goin'  in  with  ye  on 
the  jint-stock  principle,  that  yer  prejudices  agen  him  would  van 
ish  like  a  vapor  wreath  that  dims  the  summer  moon — that  he 
would  no  longer  be  regarded  among  ye  as  Pangburn  yer  tra- 
doocer,  but  as  Pangburn  yer  benefactor  !  True,  I  give  the  Bar 
a  good  name  when  aperiently  it  didn't  deserve  it.  Why  ?  It 
answered  my  purpose  in  two  ways.  It  directed  the  squatter 
interest  on  to  the  spot,  and  when  it  come,  it  was  disappointed. 
Now  it's  got  a  bad  name,  and  when  the  gold  is  found,  if  all  the 
papers  from  Oregon  to  Mariposy  was  to  blow  their  .horns  they 
couldn't  undo  the  work  of  the  Mounting  Clarion  !  That  airY 
my  statesmanship,  that  is,  and  after  I've  chucked  in  a' few  o'  them 
buckwheats,  I'll  explain  to  ye  at  hull  length  whar  I  think  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  117 

gold  is  a  hidin'  and  how  I  come  to  think  so.  And  if  I  ain't  as 
much  mistaken  as  the  man  who  lost  his  shirt,  fortin'  awaits  us ; 
fortin'  on  a 'big  scale,  the  hull  hog  and  no  discount;  and  then 
Hail  Columby  and  the  Atlantic  States,  happy  return  of  Z.  Pang- 
burn  to  love  and  Utiky  !" 

The  speaker  here  concluded  his  harangue,  and  after  once  again 
showing  his  teeth  to  the  company,  in  a  manner  at  once  threaten 
ing  and  scornful,  he  employed  them  with  characteristic  vigor 
upon  the  viands  before  him. 

It  is  true  that  most  of  his  hearers  were  disposed  to  regard 
Mr.  Pangburn's  views  with  a  suspicious  rather  than  a  sanguine 
eye.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  was  a  time  when 
glowing  anticipations,  such  as  his,  were  often  more  than  realized. 
Many  Avere  the  instances  in  those  early  days  of  men  landing  pen 
niless  at  San  'Francisco,  and  becoming  within  three  months  the 
possessors  of  thousands.  Many  were  the  cases  of  people  who 
never  in  their  lives  possessed  a  hundred  dollars,  until  they  scraped 
together  all  possible  resources  to  buy  their  passage-tickets,  accu 
mulating  even  in  less  time  what  to  them  were  princely  fortunes. 
There  were  not  wanting  examples  where  diggings,  like  those  at 
Armstrong's  Bar,  had  been  abandoned  as  unprofitable,  and  sub 
sequent  adventurers,  more  lucky  than  the  first,  had  stumbled  on 
the  treasure  and  grown  rich  upon  the  wealth  which  their  prede 
cessors  had  left  undiscovered.  It  was  by  no  means  incredible, 
then,  that  such  an  example  might  be  repeated  on  this  very  spot 
or  in  its  immediate  vicinity ;  and  although  a  man's  discretion  as 
well  as  his  candor  might  be  doubted  when,  by  inducing  many 
to  come  where  few  had  explored  before,  he  augmented  the 
chances  of  a  discovery  which  it  vras  his  professed  interest  to  avoid; 
yet  he  might  be  knowing  to  circumstances  which  made  discovery 
next  to  impossible,  and  might  easily  be  forgiven  for  seeking  to 
give  the  settlers  so  strong  an  evidence  that  they  were  'unlikely 
to  effect  it  as  would  lead  them  to  put  a  just  value  on  his  own 
agency,  which  could  supply  the  clue. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  remarkable  that  those  who  had  so  sharply 
stigmatized  their  flowery  visitant  an  hour  before,  and  who  even 
now  accorded  him  but  a  grudging  confidence,  were  yet  not  un 
willing  to  consider  his  proposals  and  to  investigate  his  grounds 
for  auguring  success.  There  could  be  small  harm  in  hearing 
what  he  had  to  say,  even  if  nothing  came  of  it.  They  would, 
in  such  a  case,  be  no  worse  o£F  than  at  present,  and  there  was. a 
chance,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  happiest  results.  It  was  soon 
agreed,  therefore,  between  Seth,  the  Doctor,  and  Gifford,  who 
retired  as  a  Committee  of  Consultation  pending  the  devastating 


118  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR 

onslaught  of  Zelotes  upon  their  provender,  that  that  worthy 
should  have  full  opportunity  to  make  good  his  words,  and  if  he 
would,  to  share  in  the  profit  he  anticipated.  Th<jy  all  came 
there  for  gold ;  and,  provided  they  got  it,  there  would  have  been 
little  objection,  on  most  parts,  to  Mephistopheles  himself  as  a 
stockholder  in  the  company. 

"The  long  and  short  of  the  matter  is,"  observed  the  Doctor, 
"  that  the  fellow  is  an  unprincipled  rascal ;  but  if  he  is  cunning 
enough  to  teach  us  something  we  don't  know,  we  needn't  stand 
in  our  own  light." 

"  I  hardly  know  what  to  think  on't,"  said  Seth,  thoughtfully  ; 
"  I  don't  sec  why  a  chap  who's  only  been  on  the  Bar  once  afore 
is  like  to  know  more  'bout  it  than  men  who've  been  diggin' 
round  goin'  on  six  months." 

"After  all,"  suggested  Hugh,  "what  harm  can  he  do? 
What  we  make  now  can  scarcely  excite  his  cupidity,  that  he 
should  wish  to  share  it  on  the  same  terms — hard  labor  and  small 
profit.  Let  him  point  out  his  wonderful  secret.  If  he  trifles 
with  us,  we  can  warn  him  off  the  Bar,  and  so  be  rid  of  him  al 
together." 

With  this  understanding  the  conference  ended,  and  it  was 
forthwith  announced  to  Mr.  Pangburn  that  the  party  were  will 
ing  to  tolerate  his  presence  and  to  listen  to  his  explanations. 
That  gentleman,  however,  having  stimulated  the  curiosity  and 
raised  the  expectation  of  his  hosts  to  the  highest  possible  pitch, 
was  now  disposed  to  secure  his  own  interests  in  the  pending  bar 
gain.  Ho  represented,  with  a  show  of  reason  which  could  not 
be  gainsaid,  that,  if  by  his  instructions  the  yield  of  gold  should 
increase  largely  on  the  Bar,  it  was  but  fair  that  he  should  share 
in  the  advantage  thereof ;  and  as  the  others  were  collectively 
indebted  to  him  in  such  a  case  for  their  augmented  emolument, 
they  should  be  willing  to  allow  him  a  liberal  percentage.  There 
were  two  other  parties  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  who  man 
aged  their  affairs  much  in  the  same  way  with  that  pursued  at 
Seth  Armstrong's :  that  is  to  say,  the  bands  worked  in  concert, 
and  divided  regularly  all  that  they  gained.  Over  these  bando 
Armstrong's  party  had,  of  course,  no  control ;  for  although  the 
spot  had  received  the  name  of  the  first  comer,  by  common  con 
sent,  he  had  no  legal  or  prospective  sway  over  their  actions.  A 
friendly  feeling  existed,  especially  as  some  of  the  men  had  been 
of  the  party  in  crossing  the  plains  ;  but  beyond  this,  and  with  the 
exception  of  coming  thither  for  supplies  and  occasional  letters, 
there  was  no  particular  intercourse  with,  nor  were,  these  men  in 
any  sense  amenable  to,  those  at  the  immediate  Bar.  Mr.  Pang- 


TIIE    QUEST    FOR    FORTUNE.  119 

burn  was,  of  course,  perfectly  aware  that,  failing  negotiations 
with  the  latter,  he  could  easily  open  fresh  ones  with  the  others, 
and  he  calculated  that  this  knowledge  would  have  its  cfTect  in 
producing  an  acquiescent  disposition  on  the  part  of  his  present 
hosts.  Ah1  he  wanted,  he  assured  them,  was  what  was  fair.  He 
always  looked  out  for  number  one,  he  did,  but  he  didn't  go  in 
for  no  chizzlin'.  •  He  allowed  he  ought  to  git  pooty  fan*  pay  for 
his  time,  and  the  "Mounting  Clarion"  might  suffer  some  when 
he  was  away.  TJiose  fellers  over  to  the  Bend  would  give  half 
the  profits  to  anybody  who'd  put  them  on  such  a  lay,  they  would. 
But  he  went  fur  for  friendship,  he  did.  He  always  stuck  by  his 
friends  through  thick  and  thin ;  and  he  liked  Mr.  Armstrong 
and  the  others  very  much.  Mr.  A.  was  an  Amurikin  of  the  sort 
he  liked  ;  he  was  his  kind,  he  was.  Give  him  a  man  that  was 
not  passion's  slave,  and  he  would  wear  him  in  his  heart  of  hearts, 
as  he  did  Seth  ;  also  the  Doctor  and  Mr.  GifFord,  either  of  whom 
he  would  be  pleased  to  have  contribute  to  the  "  Clarion."  Did 
they  see  the  pome  in  the  last  number — u  Ilaowl  on,  ye  base  and 
hireling  crew  "  ?  They'd  find  it  was  kind  of  gritty  ;  being  an 
effusion  of  his  own,  suggested  by  hearing  the  coyotes  bullyraggin' 
round  the  "  Clarion"  office  at  night,  and  remindin'  him  of  the 
legislator*  at  Sacramenty  last  winter,  when  they  refused  to  vote 
for  Pangburn  for  State  printer.  Somethin'  in  that  way  would 
be  always  acceptable,  'specially  as  they  were  likely  to  be  pard's 
when  this  'ere  bargain  was  struck  and  brought  to  a  conclusion 
In  the  mean  tune,  he  reckoned  that  about  twenty-five  per  cent, 
on  the  excess  of  what  they  might  git  through  his  advice,  over 
and  above  the  former  average,  would  make  'eni  square. 

The  others  demurred  to  this  proposition.  Mr.  Pangburn 
might  know  a  lead  that  they  were  ignorant  of ;  but  they  were 
likely,  at  any  day,  at  any  hour,  to  strike  it.  Gold-digging  and 
washing  were  very  hard  work,  and  their  plan  was  share  and 
share  alike.  The  democratic  principle  was  surely  most  applica 
ble  to  a  species  of  labor  where,  without  merit  or  demerit  on  the 
part  of  any  individual,  without  either  industry  or  indolence,  he 
might  get  nothing  by  a  day's  work,  and  kis  neighbor  a  hundred 
dollars*  or  more.  They  always  divided  even,  at  the  Bend,  at 
Yankee  Jim's,  and  at  every  other  place  they  knew  of.  It  didn't 
work  well  to  change  the  rule,  and  they  had  better  not  try  it. 
Besides,  Mr.  Paugburn  would  frequently  be  obliged  to  leave 
them,  and  thus  the  company  would  lose  the  advantage  of  his 
services,  a  consideration  not  to  be  forgotten  in  estimating  their 
general  value.  Thus  far  the  Doctor  as  spokesman  for  the  Bar. 

Zelotes  had  heerd  his  honorable  friend  with  minglin'  emo- 


120  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

tions.  He  was  surprised  to  hear  the  help  he  was  about  to  be 
stow,  comin',  as  he  was,  to  lead  'em  on  to  fortin'  and  to  fame, 
should  be  so  far  disparaged  as  to  be  only  counted  as  the  ordi 
nary  toil  of  an  ordinary  man.  As  for  the  Bend  and  Yankee 
Jim's,  they  was  the  Bend  and  Yankee  Jim's.  What  he  was  a 
contemplating  of  now  was  to  serve  his  friends  at  Armstrong's 
Bar.  When  they  allowed  they  didn't  want  the  arm  or  voice  of 
Pangburn,  it  -  /ould  be  time  enough  to  think  of  other  folks  who 
might.  He  thanked  'em  from  the  recesses  of  his  inmost  soul 
for  their  solicitood  touchin'  the  interests  of  freedom's  banner,  the 
"  Mounting  Clarion."  It  was  nateral  that  they,  sons  of  liberty 
as  they  was,  should  feel  anxious  about  the  prospects  of  her  fa 
vorite  organ  ;  and  when  he  told  them  that  he  had  arranged  that 
those  prospects  should  be  attended  to  in  his  absence,  he  knew 
they  could  be  happy.  When  he  mentioned  the  name  of  Eli  S. 
Barlow  as  that  of  the  distinguished  scholar  he  had  engaged  to 
supplement  the  labors  of  Pangburn,  and  ile  the  machine  in  his 
absence,  they  would  feel  satisfied  that  all  was  well.  He  was  the 
partner  of  their  toils,  their  feelings,  and  their  fame,  he  was ; 
and  twenty  per  cent,  on  the  gross  receipts  was  what  he  would 
take,  and  ne'er  a  cent  less. 

An  agreement  was  finally  effected  upon  the  last-named  basis ; 
a  prudential  clause  being  inserted,  that  under  no  circumstances 
was  the  division  to  be  made  when  it  would  leave  to  the  original 
settlers  a  daily  stipend  inferior  to  the  average  they  had  been  re 
ceiving.  This  precaution  would,  at  all  events,  prevent  any  in 
jury  to  established  rights  from  resulting  as  a  consequence  of  the 
innovation  ;  while  it  placed  the  new  comer  in  a  position  which 
would  oblige  him  to  increase  the  general  wealth,  or,  as  an  alter 
native,  to  entirely  waste  his  time.  Such  was  the  treaty  which, 
being  pronounced  to  be  fair  to  all  parties,  now  received  the  gen 
eral  acquiesence  and  solemn  ratification. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MR.  PANGBURN  was  a  person  by  no  means  without  sagacity. 
Acuteness  of  a  certain  kind  constituted,  indeed,  the  leading  char 
acteristic  of  his  mind.  Of  education,  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
term,  he  had  little  or  none  He  had  been  sent  to  a  district  school 
for  the  winter  months  during  several  years  of  his  boyhood  ;  those 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  121 

of  the  summer  having  been  engrossed  by  hard  work  on  his 
uncle's  farm.  But  the  snowy  intervals,  which  were  supposed  by 
that  thrifty  yeoman  to  be  devoted  to  learning,  were,  on  the  con 
trary,  chiefly  employed  in  speculations  of  a  mercantile  character, 
whereby  his  schoolfellows  were  the  sufferers,  and  in  the  manu 
facture  of  sleds,  shipping  and  other  marketable  commodities,  to 
the  fashioning  of  which  Zelotes  brought  much  zeal,  and  no  little 
ingenuity.  To  do  him  justice,  he  was  never  indolent ;  and  al 
though  what  he  called  ''hooking  Jack"  caused  him  to  grow  up 
awfully  deficient  in  even  the  simpler  branches  of  a  country  boy's 
education,  more  especially  in  spelling  and  grammar,  he  had  at 
eighteen  already  amassed  a  small  capital,  and  knew  more  of  the 
little  world  about  him  than  any  of  his  by  no  means  artless  con 
temporaries. 

To  get  at  the  key-note  of  Mr.  Pangburn's  nature,  you  had  only 
to  keep  one  thing  steadily  in  view,  which  was,  that  the  acquisi 
tion  of  money  was  never  for  an  instant  absent  from  his  mind. 
Wherever  he  went,  with  whomsoever  he  talked,  this  important 
matter  was  always  uppermost  there,  and  no  larger  subject,  no 
higher  thought,  was  by  any  chance  permitted  to  thrust  it  aside. 
If  he  ever  thought  of  the  ocean,  it  was  with  regret  that  it  should 
be  so  unnecessarily  extensive,  and  that  the  utmost  ingenuity  or 
industry  of  man  could  only  be  expected  to  wrest  from  it  a  cer 
tain  limited  quantity  of  "made  land."  If  his  reflections  ever 
touched  upon  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  they  were  mingled  with 
regret  that  physical  obstacles  prevented  those  luminaries  from 
being  chopped  up  into  quarter  sections,  or  staked  off  in  claims. 
He  had,  it  is  true,  at  his  tongue's  end,  plenty  of  the  current 
slang  about  matters  as  spacious  as  liberty,  national  glory,  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  destiny  of  his  country ;  but  he 
meant  no  more  by  them  than  is  meant  by  the  perpetual  beating 
of  the  gong  during  a  Chinese  play  ;  they  were  the  conventional 
and  duly  expected  accompaniments  of  the  drama  of  his  daily 
life,  his  exits  and  his  entrances,  his  dialogue  and  his  "business." 
They  had  no  true  relation  to  either,  but  the  audience  expected 
them  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  the  audi 
ence  got  them. 

Now,  although  Mr.  Pangburn  may  not  appear  from  this  de 
scription  to  have  been  eminently  fitted  for  the  character  of  a 
public  instructor,  it  is  certain  that  the  "  Mountain  Clarion."  as 
blown  by  him,  was  heard  afar  off,  and  often  with  considerable 
effect.  He  was  too  cunning  not  to  be  aware  of  his  own  defi 
ciencies,  where  they  \\ciO  likely  to  affect  his  pocket;  and  al 
though  he  could  not  conveniently  spell  himself,  he  always  man- 
6 


122  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

aged  to  have  a  sub-editor  and  a  compositor  who  could.  Gener 
ally  speaking,  one  person  united  the  two  offices,  although,  since 
the  advent  of  Eii  S.  Barlow,  this  economical  expedient  had  been 
disused.  The  "  Clarion  "  had  been  blowing  only  a  few  months 
at  the  time  when  our  history  commenced  ;  but  it  had,  as  I  have 
said,  not  been  unheard.  Zelotes  perceived,  with  early  intuition, 
that,  where  a  population  was  increasing  with  such  unexampled 
rapidity,  where  gold  was  being  ravished  from  the  earth  in  such 
unheard  of  profusion,  there  must  speedily  arise  conflicts  of  in 
terests  and  struggles  of  parties  which  would  cause  a  printed  ad 
vocate  to  become  valuable.  He  possessed  himself  of  one  of  the 
first  printing-presses  which  had  been  brought  into  the  country, 
a  battered  and  ancient  engine  which  had  doubled  Cape  Horn, 
after  seeing  the  life  and  death  of  more  than  one  country  news 
paper  in  little  New  England  towns.  But  it  was  a  wonder  when 
it  first  appeared  among  the  diggings,  and  its  sway  and  name 
grew  great  in  mouths  of  wisest  censure. 

Mr.  Pangburn  employed  his  Organ,  as  he  somewhat  incor 
rectly  termed  the  "  Clarion,"  with  great  assiduity  for  the  further 
ance  of  what  was  stereotyped  over  the  leading  article  as  "  The 
Interests  and  Prospects  of  this  Great,  Free,  and  Prosperous 
Community,"  and  in  his  own  breast  as  the  Interests  and  Pros 
pects  of  his  cherished  pocket.  When  he  could  get  black  mail 
from  claim-owners,  town-projectors,  or  political  aspirants,  he 
took  it,  and  the  "  Clarion  "  burst  into  a  glad  song  of  praise,  and 
warbled  in  cadences  of  unmingled  eulogy.  When  he  was  dis 
appointed,  through  the  obstinacy  or  stupidity  of  such  specula 
tors,  the  "  Clarion  "  gave  vent  to  solemn  denunciation,  or,  in  the 
way  of  variety,  ran  up  and  down  the  gamut  of  coarse  vitupera 
tion.  The  Organ,  however,  was  costly,  wages  and  material  be 
ing  enormously  high  ;  the  subscribers,  beino-  chiefly  of  a  migra 
tory  character,  were  often  oblivious  of  their  obligations;  and, 
finally,  there  were  considerations  of  a  personal  nature  which 
made  it  wise  for  the  proprietor  to  absent  himself  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  office.  He  had  therefore  taken  to  riding 
through  the  country  with  a  view  to  augment  his  subscription 
list,  to  solicit  advertisements,  and,  as  he  averred,  "to  take  a 
hand  in  wherever  he  see  a  chance  to  make  somethink." 

In  this  speculative  frame  he  had  first  visited  Armstrong's  Bar ; 
and  having  to  this  extent  outlined  his  pursuits  and  character,  I 
may  proceed  to  describe  the  immediate  motives  which  led  Mr. 
Pangburn  to  believe  that  he  could  make  this  quiet  spot  the  scene 
of  a  fresh  golden  triumph.  Although  utterly  without  philosoph 
ical  lore  of  a  profound  character,  no  man  was  quicker  than  this 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  123 

man  in  grasping  the  theory  of  physical  phenomena,  which  he 
could  make  subsidiary  to  money-getting.  He  knew,  as  he  often 
declared,  as  well  as  any  one,  that  water  would  run  down  hill. 
To  the  careful  consideration  of  so  simple  a  commonplace  as  this, 
with  the  cognate  incidents  which  it,  like  the  water,  always  car 
ries  in  its  bosom,  many  a  great  fortune  has  since  been  due. 
"Whenever  Mr.  Pangburn  struck  running  water  in  this  land  of 
gold,  he  immediately  began  to  examine  and  peer  about  the  ad 
jacent  country,  in  order  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  whether  it  had 
always  been  flowing  in  its  present  channel.  There  was  no  par 
ticular  novelty  in  this  idea.  Dr.  Landale  had  thought  of  it  when 
he  first  came  on  the  .Bar.  But  the  difference  was  that  the  Doc 
tor,  with  all  his  scientific  knowledge,  had  failed  to  hit  on  a  fact 
that  Zelotes,  with  nothing  but  his  insatiate  thirst  for  gold,  had 
detected.  The  little  river  which  ran  by  the  door  of  our  adven 
turers  had  indeed  long,  long  before  forsaken  the  old  track 
through  which  it  had  struggled  to  get  toward  the  sea.  The 
neighboring  country  was  greatly  diversified,  and  scored  here  and 
there  with  rifts,  and  gullies,  and  deep  ravines.  By  one  of  those 
accidents  of  heavy  freshet,  or  volcanic  .eruption,  or  crumbling 
soil,  which  ofttimes  produce  such  mutations,  the  bed  of  the 
stream  had  been  changed. 

Between  Armstrong's  Bar  and  the  place  which  has  been  allud 
ed  to  as  *;  the  Bend,"  the  inequalities  of  the  surface  were  most 
nigged  and  bold ;  and  this  was  the  case  for  a  mile  or  more 
towards  the  interior.  The  curve  of  the  stream  between  the  two 
settlements  was  elliptical  in  shape,  and  very  long ;  to  that  degree 
that,  while  the  distance  between  them  by  water  could  not  have 
been  less  than  six  or  seven  miles,  it  was  less  than  a  third  of  that 
space  across  the  country.  Xow  the  water  had  found  its  way 
long  ages  before  from  one  point  to  the  other  in  nearly  a  straight 
line ;  and  only  had  recourse  to  its  present  devious  path  when, 
through  the  unknown  cause  referred  to,  it  could  adopt  no  other. 
The  old  bed,  then,  lay  between  the  Bar  and  the  Bend,  and  de 
flected  towards  the  present  one  about  a  mile  below  the  former ; 
and  this  was  what  the  astute  Mr.  Pangburn  had  discovered. 

The  cabin  of  the  Armstrong's  was  almost  immediately  on  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  not  more  than  a  mile,  perhaps,  from  its 
ancient  channel.  But  such  was  the  broken  character  of  the 
intervening  country,  that  no  horse  could  traverse  it,  and  a  man 
would  find  it  extremely  difficult.  To  get  to  the  place,  then, 
from  the  Bar,  it  was  necessary  to  go  down  the  stream  for  about 
a  mile,  and  then  make  one's  way  up  again,  in  a  direction  far  to- 
the  right  of  that  which  has  just  been  described.  This,  after 


124  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

profound  cogitation,  Mr.  Pangburn  had  done.  He  had  gone  in 
the  saddle  as  far  as  he  could  penetrate.  He  had  then  dismounted, 
encouraged  by  the  signs  he  found  about  him,  and  made  his  way 
onwards  after  securing  his  horse  to  a  tree.  His  path  was  by  no 
means  an  easy  one,  for  it  crossed  at  almost  every  turn  with 
thickets  and  thorns,  and  huge  fragments  of  rock,  and  impene 
trable  chaparral.  Still,  he  was  more  and  more  sanguine  of  the 
correctness  of  his  supposition  as  he  got  further.  Finally,  he 
came  to  a  dark,  narrow  gorge,  which  seemed  absolutely  impass 
able,  and  which  could  neither  be  avoided, nor  taken  in  flank. 
The  soil  under  his  feet  was  gravelly  and  uneven,  and  he  slipped 
at  almost  every  step,  but  he  had  struggled  manfully  on  until  this 
last  obstacle  became  manifestly  insuperable.  At  that  moment, 
his  eyes  getting  used  to  the  twilight,  the  heart  of  Zelotes  leaped 
to  his  mouth  and  his  skinny  frame  thrilled  with  joy.;  for  therein 
front  of  him,  piercing  the  gloom  of  the  deep  ravine,  and  in  spite 
of  the  intervening  brush,  he  saw  on  the  ground  a  tender  sparkle, 
which  made  his  spirit  exult  as  it  never  exulted  before.  It  was  a 
fragment — tiny  indeed,  but  still  a  fragment — of  virgin  gold. 

When  the  editor  of  the  "Clarion"  left  the  ravine,  his  saddle 
bags  were  stuffed  with  earth  he  had  scraped  from  its  bottom. 
And  the  first  result  of  the  careful  washing  of  that  earth  at  the 
earliest  favorable  opportunity  was  a  good  ounce  and  a  half  of  the 
precious  metal.  The  second,  as  we  have  seen,  was  that  of  lead 
ing  him  to  return  very  soon  to  the  Bar,  and  to  make  that  pro 
posal  to  its  denizens  which  has  been  already  described. 

It  is  improbable  that  our  discoverer  would  have  brought  him 
self  to  admit  others  to  share  his  counsels  and  his  profits  but  for 
a  necessity  which  could  not  be  avoided.  He  had  with  great  la 
bor  and  pains  brought  away  enough  of  the  precious  soil  on  which 
to  try  a.  conclusive  experiment.  This  had  involved  time  as  well 
as  labor,  which  were  to  be  added  to  the  chances  of  detection 
when  any  wayfarer  might  step  in  to  anticipate  or  divide  his  gains. 
To  turn  his  discovery  to  the  best  advantage,  it  would  be  neces 
sary  to  convey  water  to  the  spot ;  not  in  slender  driblets,  but  . 
in  a  copious  and  a  continuous  stream.  Such  a  supply  could  only 
be  obtained  from  the  river,  and  must  be  brought  thence  by  some 
mechanical  contrivance.  There  were  no  quartz  mills  in  those 
days,  and  although  mercury  was  often  used  to  separate  gold 
from  dross,  the  method  most  in  vogue  was  the  simplest;  that  is 
to  say,  the  method  of  placing  the  auriferous  soil  in  any  hollow 
vessel  and  adding  water;  after  which,  by  shaking,  stirring,  or 
rocking,  the  greater  specific  gravity  of  the  gold  would  cause  it 
to  drop  to  the  bottom,  and  the  remainder  of  the  mixture  being 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  125 

poured  away,  its  most  valuable  ingredient  would  remain  as  a 
precipitate.  Water  must  be  earned  from  the  river ;  and  to  carry 
out  this  necessity  the  aid  of  those  on  the  Bar  became  indispen 
sable. 

Having  unfolded  thus  much  to  his  new  friends,  who  listened 
with  the  gravest  interest  and  attention,  and  having  exhibited 
the  gold  he  had  procured  in  the  canon  by  way  of  confirmation, 
Mr.  Pangburn  properly  observed  that  the  first  thing  to  be  done 
was  to  devise  means  for  the  transport  of  the  first  essential  to 
success — the  water  of  the  river.  This  opportunity  for  the  exer 
cise  of  his  abilities  as  engineer  of  the  company,  put  the  Doctor 
in  high  spirits. 

"  What's  the  difference  in  level?"  he  inquired,  briskly.. 

"I  climno.  How  should  I  ?  I  reckon,  tho',  it  must  be  higher* 
'n  this,  else  what  would  the  water  run  here  for  ?" 

"  That  doesn't  follow.  It  would  be  very  unfortunate  if  it  did. 
The  stream  might  have  been  been  diverted  by  an  obstacle,  which 
had  no  necessary  connection  with  the  land  it  ran  over  aj'tcricards. 
Its  true  that  the  tendency  of  a  disused  channel  is  to  fill  up,  as 
it  is  that  of  one  in  use  to  deepen ;  but  we  can  determine  noth 
ing  until  we  know  the  real  difference  of  level." 

"Well,  how  are  ye  goin'  to  git  at  it?" 

••Easily  enough,  with  a  little  time  and  patience;  it  will  take 
more  to  build  an  aqueduct." 

••  "We  call  that  a  flume,  we  do." 

"  Call  it  what  you  like,  it's  the  same  thing.  But  before  we  go 
to  the  expense  of  such  a  work,  we'd  best  test  the  place  a  little 
further." 

All  agreed  as  to  the  expediency  of  such  a  precaution,  Mr. 
Pangburn  being  so  satisfied  with  the  prospect  as  to  make  no  ob 
jection.  A  party  was  accordingly  sent  olf  under  his  guardian 
ship,  and,  after  three  hours'  absence,  returned  with  a  consider 
able  quantity  of  the  soil,  taken  out  as  he  directed.  The  result 
showed  that  his  sagacity  was  not  at  fault ;  for,  from  a  quantity 
of  earth  about  three  times  as  great  as  he  had  first  practised  upon, 
they  succeeded  in  obtaining  nearly  five  ounces  of  gold-dust.  In 
the  mean  time  the  Doctor  had  contrived  to  manufacture  a  couple 
of  rods  with  sliding  disks,  and  his  theodolite  being  in  tolerable 
adjustment,  had  commenced,  with  the  help  of  Luke  Armstrong 
and  myself,  to  run  a  line  of  levels  from  the  river  to  the  new 
placer.  It  was  evening  when  this  labor  was  concluded,  but  the 
result  was  tolerably  satisfactory  ;  the  surface  of  the  water  having 
been  found  to  be  some  fifteen  feet  higher  than  that  of  the 
ground  whence  the  earth  had  been  taken.  A  consultation  was 


126  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

held  that  night  after  supper,  and  it  was  resolved  to  transfer  the 
scene  of  their  daily  toils  to  these  newer  and  richer  diggings. 
If,  after  a  week,  appearances  continued  encouraging,  the  com 
pany  would  go  to  the  great  expense  of  bringing  boards  IVorn 
the  nearest  saw-mill  for  the  construction  of  a  Hume.  For  hewn 
timber  they  must  rely  on  their  own  exertions ;  and  as  Dick 
Hailes  promised  to  see  to  that  part  of  the  work,  just  coniidence 
was  reposed  that  it  would  be  thoroughly  performed.  It  was 
considered  that  the  water  would  necessarily  fall  very  much  as 
the  dry  season  advanced,  and  this  suggested  the  building  of  a 
sort  of  reservoir  which  should  be  supplied  by  force-pumps ;  an 
expedient  which  would  enable  water  to  be  delivered  at  the  new 
diggings,  even  when  the  stream  should  fall,  if  possible,  to  be  as 
low  as  the  level  of  the  canon  itself. 

At  the  end  of  the  week  the  party  had  taken  out  nearly  sixty 
ounces  of  gold,  a  result  which  was  voted  to  warrant  the  expense 
and  labor  of  the  flume.  Accordingly  the  materials'  were  con 
tracted  for ;  a  proceeding  of  itself  attended  with  some  difficulty, 
since  the  experience  of  the  last  season  had  put  the  miners  on 
their  guard  about  providing  for  water  in  the  dry  solstice,  and 
these  structures  were  being  put  up  all  over  the  country,  causing 
a  great  scarcity  of  the  timber  whereof  alone  they  could  be  made. 
The  combination  of  pluck,  science,  steadiness,  and  cunning, 
which  was  now  at  work  on  Armstrong's  Bar  was  well  calculated 
to  overcome  .this  or  much  greater  impediments  to  success.  In  a 
fortnight  more  the  flume  was  built  and  in  operation. 

The  fame  of  these  operations,  of  course,  was  bruited  abroad,  and 
although  the  "  Mounting  Clarion  "  week  after  wreek  continued  to 
declare  in  the  most  unblushing  manner  that  the  diggers  on  the  Bar 
were  not  making  their  salt,  and  that  what  had  been  discovered 
there  had  proved  to  be  only  inferior  and  scanty  surface  stuff,  it  could 
not  deter  some  greedy  adventurers,  who  would  see  for  them 
selves,  and  who  put  no  faith  in  "  Clarions,"  from  settling  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  original  company,  011  the  other  hand,  had 
staked  out  claims  as  extensive  as  the  laws  then  allowed ;  and 
they  possessed  a  vast  advantage  in  their  flume,  which  had  cost 
the  labor  and  capital  of  many  to  complete.  Some  time  passed 
before  another  was  attempted,  and  in  the  interval  the  gains  of 
the  company  were  steadily  increasing.  It  became  evident,  even 
to  the  least  sanguine,  that  a  few  months  of  such  prosperity  as 
they  now  enjoyed  would  make  them  all  rich.  Some  who  came 
to  California  wandered  from  point  to  point,  setting  up  then*  tents 
now  in  one  place,  now  in  another,  and  departing  from  each  as 
penniless  as  when  they  arrived.  Some  had  tried  a  dozen  ex- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  127 

periments  before  finding  what  they  called  a  paying  location  ;  and 
some  unlucky  ones  never  found  such  a  location  at  all.  The 
party  at  Armstrong's  Bar  were  more  fortooate.  They  had  paid 
their  way  even  in  the  worst  of  times  ;  they  had  not  been  lined 
to  abandon  the  spot  of  then-  first  election  by  glittering  tables  of 
others  more  prolific  ;  and  they  seemed  to  be  reaping  the  reward 
of  their  fidelity,  hi  wealth  which  was  now  pouring  into  their 
coffers  with  swift  and  bewildering  reality. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

"  A  HUNDRED  pounds  of  pure  gold  I     It  looks  pooty,  don't 

itr 

The  speaker  was  Mr.  Pangburn,  and  it  was  a  Saturday  night, 
about  two  months  after  that  gentleman's  association  with  the 
party  at  Armstrong's  Bar.  It  was  their  custom  on  Saturday 
nights  to  add  up  the  gains  of  the  past  week,  and  then  to  place 
them  with  the  general  store  for  safe-keeping.  In  the  absence  of 
an  iron  safe,  a  deep  hole  had  been  sunk  in  a  corner  of  the  cabin, 
which,  with  the  aid  of  adobe,  some  flat  stones,  and  a  heavy 
wooden  lid,  or  cover,  provided  with  hinges  and  a  ring,  consti 
tuted  a  sort  of  treasure-vault.  In  this  receptacle  there  reposed, 
during  the  rest  of  the  week,  a  strong  iron-bound  box,  secured 
by  two  padlocks,  about  two  feet  in  length  by  one  in  height  and 
breadth.  On  Saturday  nights  this  box,  being  unearthed,  was 
put  where  it  now  stood,  on  the  table  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
to  receive  the  fruits  of  the  week's  toil,  and  the  admiring  saluta 
tions  of  its  collective  owners.  There  it  stood,  wide  open,  with 
various  little  bags  of  nuggets,  and  some  curious  specimens  of 
crystals  and  quartz-bearing  gold,  arranged  about  its  sides ;  but 
in  the  middle  was  a  smaller  box  of  tin,  also  furnished  with  a 
padlock,  and  also  open  ;  and  in  this  inner  sanctuary  was  the  pile 
which  feasted  the  loving  eyes  of  Mr.  Pangburn. 

Gold  was  there  in  all  shapes  and  many  sizes  ;  molten  lumps 
which  showed  the  action  of  fire,  and  rounded  lumps  which  told 
of  that  of  water.  Large  pieces  of  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg, 
and  tiny  spangles  scarcely  bigger  than  the  point  of  a  pin. 
Queer-shaped  bits,  here  and  there,  which  fascinated  the  eye  by 
grotesque  resemblance  to  people's  heads  and  legs ;  regular  bits 
now  and  again,  like  coins  and  ornaments,  which  you  would 


128  MARIAN   EOOKE  ;    OR 

scarcely  believe  had  not  been  fashioned  by  human  handa 
Variety,  too,  in  color  as  well  as  in  form,  was  there.  Warm- 
looking  gold,  with  the  reddish  tinge  of  copper  ;  pale-looking, 
delicate  gold,  having  some  admixture  of  silver,  with  various  in 
termediate  shades  between.  A  good  deal  of  the  precious  earth 
was  in  the  box  ;  ancl  it  lay  in  little  irregular  heaps,  with  moun 
tains  and  valleys,  and  bright  yellow  plains  and  dark  purple  ra 
vines  breaking  and  diversifying  its  surface.  The  light  fell  from 
the  chandelier,  which  was  made  of  a  hoop,  and  which. hung  from 
the  roof,  and  the  company  were  seated  close  to  the  table,  with 
all  their  eyes  riveted  on  the  glittering  heap  in  its  centre. 

Mr.  Paugburn  had  insinuated  himself  rather  nearer  than 
either  of  the  others,  and  was  toying  at  the  treasure  with  his 
great  coarse  fingers,  as  if  the  sense  of  touch  as  well  as  that  of 
Sight  gave  him  an  exquisite  pleasure  ;  and,  while  he  enjoyed 
himself  with  so  undissembled  a  satisfaction,  the  Doctor,  who  sat 
opposite,  seemed  to  be  watching  his  hands  with  a  flinty  suspi 
cion  in  his  hard  Scotch  face  that  he  was  scarcely  at  pains  to  con 
ceal.  Perhaps  he  might  have  thought  Mr.  Pangburn  capable  of 
putting  pitch  upon  his  fingers,  in  anticipation  of  such  an  oppor 
tunity  ;  and  yet  the  surmise  would  have  been  unreasonable,  since 
it  was  not  difficult,  if  any  one  were  so  disposed,  to-overreach  the 
others  in  the  daily  routine  of  work,  by  adroit  processes  of  with 
holding  and  concealing  ;  and,  to  do  him  justice,  no  one  had  ever 
seen  a  trace  of  such  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Pangburn. 

"It's  dreadful  pooty  stuff,  ain't  it  1"  repeated  he,  .gloating 
over  it  with  his  hyena-like  grin.  "  Twice  as  much  as  there  is 
there  'd  put  up  a  hull  stone-front  block  in  Utiky." 

"And  would  that  be  so  desirable  an  investment  ?"  queried 
the  Doctor. 

"It  would  that.  You'd  only  put  down  'bout  half  cost,  bor 
row  the  rest  on  bond  and  mortgage  at  six  per  cent.,  git  fifteen 
for  the  rent  o'  the  stores,  hev  Tricopherous  Hall  or  somethin' 
overhead  for  nigger  singers  and  temperance  meetin's,  fifty  dol 
lars  a  night,  and  church  on  Sundays ;  rum  on  storage  down  cel 
lar — double  your  money  in  five  year." 

"Oh,"  said  the  Doctor,  apparently 'satisfied,  "and  that's  your 
idea  of  laying  out  your  'pile,'  when  you  make  it  ?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Zelotes,  "that's  my  idee.  I  might  hev  an 
organ,"  he  added,  thoughtfully  ;  "  when  a  man's  onct  had  an  or 
gan  he  don't  kind  o'  like  to  give  up  his  holt  011  the  public  mind ; 
it  might  be  in  Syracuse  and  it  might  be  in  Schenectady  ;  but  the 
stone-front  block  in  Utiky  'd  be  my  first  idee.  What's  your'n?" 

"  A  cottage  on  the  Clyde,"  half-sighed,  half-mused  the  Doc- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  129 

tor,  a  softer  light  coming  over  his  hard  features,  "with  many 
friends,  and  few  patients;  with  plenty  of  instruments,  and  time 
to  use  them  ;  with  a  pretty  view,  and  enough  to  feel  easy,  with 
out. being  rich." 

"  That  wouldn't  bring  ye  in  no  twelve  per  cent.?' 

'*  Xo  ;  but  it  would  bring  in  something  of  more  worth — con 
tent." 

A  sarcastic  smile  played  across  the  lineaments  of  Mr.  Pang- 
burn.  "  We  don't  kear  nuthin'  'bout  content,  we  don't,  until 
there  ain't  nuthin'  else  to  git.  Our  motto  is  uppards  and  on- 
nards.  We  air  like  Alexander,  we  air,  and  would  shed  tears  as 
fast  as  the  Arabian  trees  if  there  weren't  no  more  worlds  to  con 
quer.  The  stream  with  a  more  sure  resistless  tendency  seeks 
not  the  ocean  than  a  Yank  the  next  gitable  dollar." 

"  I  believe  you,"  quoth  the  Doctor.  -;  Well,  Seth,  you've 
heard  two  aspirations  ;  let's  hear  yours — let's  hear  the  ambition 
of  the  oldest  of  us — of  him  who  gave  a  name  to  the  settlement." 

"  Why,"  said  Uncle  Seth,  "  I  never  tho't  on't,  honest,  until 
jest  lately,  when  we  got  to  take  out  so  much  dust.  I've  allers 
had  to  work,  and  I  allers  expect  to  ;  and  I  don't  raally  much 
calculate  ever  to  git  on  without  it  as  it  is.  I  don't  want  to  move 
no  more,  I  don't.  I've  moved  twict ;  first  from  the  Bay  State 
to  the  Buckeye,  and  then  from  the  Buckeye  out  here.  I  don't 
go  back  over  them  plains  agin,  not  if  I  know  myself  intimately." 

k'  Then  your  ambition  is  simply  to  stay  and  be  as  you  are  ?" 

'•  Well,  as  to  ambition,  it's  a  big  word,  and  I  don't  jest  get 
the  hang,  on't  all  in  a  minute.  If  it  means  things  I'd  like  to  do, 
why,"  looking  up,  and  passing  a  horny  hand  through  his  griz 
zled  hair  "  p'raps  a  wood  roof  d  be  slicker  'n  a  cotton  one — and 
a  nice  barn  with  stalls  is  a  sight  better  'n  a  corral.  I  did  use  to 
think."  continued  Seth,  as  the  thought  of  an  old  memory,  a 
youthful,  half-forgotten  aspiration,  played  over  his  lace — ;tl  did 
use  to  think  that  if  I  was  awful  lucky,  I'd  like  to  spend  my  old 
age  on  the  Blueberry  Hill  Farm  at  Old  Saybrook  ;  .where  my 
gran'father's  bones  is,  my  father  havin'  bad  luck,  and  bein' 
obleeged  to  sell  it  when  I  was  a-little  shaver.  It's  a  costly  farm, 
that  is,  and  to  own  it  would  be  the  only  thing  to  tempt  me  ever 
to  '  pull  up  stakes  agin.  But  I  was  allers  content  with  what 
Providence  seed  fit  to  send,  and  I  ain't  goin'  to  take  to  gruru- 
blin'  now.  It's  well  for  all  on  us,  'pears  to  me,  that,  let  alone 
havin'  a  roof,  we've  got  any  scalps  to  put  under  'em  ;  and  I'm 
willin'  for  one  to  rest  and  be  thankful." 

"  It  'ud  be  more  Christianer  to  jest  think  of  totin'  my  chiny 
over  here,"  muttered  Mrs.  Armstrong,  shaking  her  knitting- 
6* 


130  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

needles  and  staring  over  her  spectacles  from  the  chimney  corner, 
"  since  wishin'  's  fiyin'  round  ;  let  alone  six  bureaus  full  o'  linen 
fixin's  and  patchwork-comforters  to  reach  from  here  to  the 
caiion.  But  I  never  see  a  thing  in  trousers  yet  but  was  mean 
and  riley  on  patchwork  and  chiuy." 

"  Stone-front  block,  cottage  on  a  somethink,  and  rest  and  be 
thankful  on  a  wood  roof  instead  of  a  cotton  one,"  said  Mr. 
Pangburn,  briskly,  and  stirring  up  the  gold  with  his  forefinger, 
and  then  tasting  it  as  if  it  were  undergoing  some  culinary  pro 
cess.  "  What  do  you  say,  Mr.  Gifford?" 

"I?"  said  Hugh,  carelessly;  "why,  I  scarcely  know.  You 
say  there  are  a  hundred  pounds  weight  there — scarcely  twenty 
thousand  dollars ;  if  I  had,  let  us  suppose,  live  times  that 
amount,  I  dare  say  I  should  go  and  travel  in  Europe." 

"Five  times!"  exclaimed  Pangburn,  aghast;  "a  hundred 
thousand  dollars !  Why, you  don't  mean  to  say  ye'd  go  and  spend 
all  that  money  among  foreigners  out  o'  yer  own  country  '?" 

"I  didn't  say  I  should  spend  it  all,"  replied  Hugh ;  then  observ 
ing  the  horror  of  his  interlocutor,  he  added,  "although  I  dare 
say  I  might — European  travelling  is,  I  hear,  very  expensive." 

"Well,"  observed  Mr.  Pangburn,  derisively,  "when  ye  git 
it  ye  can  go  and  travel  it  aout ;  /  give  you  leave.  What's  your 
notion  o'  spendin'  your  money,  Dick  Railes  ?  P'raps  you'd  like 
to  go  a'  scatterin'  of  your  substance  on  stony  places,  eh1?" 

"Not  I,"  returned  that  worthy.  "That  ain't  my  style,  that 
ain't.  I  don't  want  to  scatter  nuthin'  unless  it's  shot  if  I  kin  get 
a  good  double  barr'l,  and  not  then  if  I  can't  hev  a  good  smell 
dog  in  t'  the  bargain.  I'd  like  a  good  house  and  a  good  horse, 
and  play-day  'bout  half  the  time,  and" — peering  over  toward 
the  corner  where  Kitty  sat  blushing  over  her  knitting — ';  a  pooty 
gal  to  help  me  enjoy  it." 

"That's  you,"  nodded  Mr.  Pangburn,  approvingly,  "  symper- 
thizin'  allers  with  a  taste  for  loveliness ;  only  ye  know,  Dick,  the 
more  play  the  less  dimes,  a  proverb  never,  stale  in  thrifty  minds. 
It's  also  hard  to  resoom  toil  arter  too  much  relaxation.  When 
engaged  in  editorial  duty  on  the  '  Mounting  Clarion,'  no  one 
ever  know'd  me  to  unbend  the  bow,  a  circumstance  which,  be 
sides  servin'  the  public  and  keepin'  active  the  intellectual  facul 
ties,  also  enabled  me  to  bind  Barlow  to  my  will  when  he  came 
to  take  charge ;  he  see  I  never  spared  myself,  and  so  prepared 
never  to  git  spared  hisself  when  his  turn  come  to  the  bellows. 
The  genius  of  our  country  is  to  keep  a  pitclim'  in  ;  whereby  the 
grass  don't  grow  under  her  feet  afore  she  hits  somethink." 

The  company  having  duly  admired  this  brief  dissertation  on 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  l.'jl 

* 

industry,  the  Doctor  proposed  that  Luke,  who  had  remained 
silent,  should  impart  his  views  as  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  pros 
pective  wealth. 

"  Allers  rememberin',"  cautioned  Zelotes,  "that  twenty  thou 
sand  dollars  in  two  months  is  equal  to  forty  thousand  in  four 
months,  and  sixty  thousand  in  six;  lettin'  alone  contingent 
finds,  and  allowin'  that  nuthin'  busts,  up  to  the  canon." 

"  It  seems  like  countin'  our  chickens  afore  they're  hatched," 
said  Luke,  in  response,  "to  talk  about  bein'  rich  yet  awhile; 
but  I  think  if  I  was  to  have  my  time,  I'd  like  to  git  some  books, 
and  read  and  study  for  a  year  or  two." 

"  Study!"  echoed  Zelotes,  contemptuously.  "What  on  airth 
d'ye  want  to  study  for?  You've  been  to  grammar-school, 
ain't  ye?" 

"Three  winters,"  answered  modest  Luke;  "summers  I  had 
to  work  on  the  farm,  like  most  folks  down  our  way,  and  all  I 
learned  won't  hurt  me  much.  I  think  a  man  ought  to  try  and 
improve  himself  when  he  gits  a  fair  show,  and  don't  have  to 
work  alljjthe  time." 

'•  Wall,"  said  the  Editor.  "  my  plan  always  was  to  do  workin' 
and  readin'  the  same  time ;  workiii'  for  the  big  licks,  and  readin' 
for  fillin'  up  the  chinks,  and  then  ye  don't  lose  nuthin'  1" 

"  That  may  do  for  common  things — 'rithmetic  and  geography, 
and  such ;  but  if  a  man  wants  to  make  himself  knowledgeable, 
so  's  to  fit  himself  to  be  with  folks  who  are  better  educated  than 
he's  been  used  to,  he's  got  to  buckle  down  to  it." 

"You  git  money  enough,"  chuckled  Mr.  Pangburn,  "and 
you'll  find  yourself  fit  enough  for  any  society  they  kin  scare  up. 
This  'ere  yaller  stuif  teaches  folks  what's  what,  a  darned  sight 
quicker  '11  any  books  that  ever  was  writ ;  and  what's  more,  there 
ain't  nobody  nowheres  but  what  kin  understand  it." 

"I  don't  vote  for  puttin'  too  much  store  on  money,  I  don't," 
remarked  Seth,  mildly.  "It's  a  very  good  thing  to  have,  that's  a 
fact,  and  our  folks  have  felt  the  want  of  it.  We've  worked 
hard  for  our  liviu'  so  fur,  and  no  mistake  ;  but  I  allow  I'd  rather 
hear  a  son  of  mine  had  a  good  name  among  his  neighbors  and 
no  more  money,  than  to  hear  him  called  a  rascal,  and  be  ten 
times  as^rich  as  his  father  was." 

"That's  you,  Seth!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Armstrong,  from  her 
corner.  "I'm  with  ye  there,  chiny  or  no  chiny.  And  as  to 
that  critter,"  she  continued,  in  an  undertone,  and  peering  specu 
latively  at  Pangburn  over  her  spectacles,  "  I  think  he  a  sell  his 
father,  if  he's  got  one,  for  thirty  pieces,  quicker  'n  a  wink." 

"  Repootation,"  proceeded  that  critter,  gravely,  "is  a  fig,  oft 


132  MARIAN  EOOKE;  OR, 

got  without  merit  and  lost  without  deservin'.  But  eagles  is 
eagles,  and  passes  current  all  the  world  over." 

"  Anyhow,"  continued  Luke,  "it's  a  free  country,  and  I  take 
it  we  kin  all  spend  our  earnin's  in- our  own  way." 

"  That  is  so,"  acquiesced  Pangburn,  "  and  we  don't  hev'  to 
pay  it  all  away  in  taxes  neither,  like  them  'ere  downtrodden 
people  in  the  old  world.  What  the  poor  man  gits  the  poor  man 
keeps,  and  the  sweat  of  honest  labor  ain't  used  to  ile  the  hinges 
of  luxurious  pomp." 

"  Hail  Columby !"  bawled  Ike,  from  his  divan  on  the  floor, 
where  he  was  extended  with  his  four-footed  companion.  "  Hail 
Columby !  and  long  live  everybody  but  Ike  and  Lion !  The 
only  ones  who  know  how  to  git  the  money;  the  only  ones 
that  knows  how  to  spend  it  when  it  is  got  and  the  only  ones 
whose  idees  on  the  pint  ain't  asked  for  to  teach  the  folks  wisdom. 
Guess  when  the  gold  gives  out  on  the  canon  ye  won't  be  so 
smart ;  like  enough  then  ye' 11  come  and  ask  us  to  show  ye  some 
thing,  and  perhaps  then  we  won't  do  it.  Talk  of  gold !  All 
ye've  got  in  that  there  cake-basket  is  110  more  to  what  Ike  kin 
show  ye  than  a  minner  to  a  whale,  nor  a  huckleberry  to  a  pum- 
kin!" 

"  Well,  and  why  don't  ye  then,  Ike?"  said  Luke  soothingly. 
u  Why  don't  ye  show  us  ?" 

"  Why  don't  mother,  here,  teach  ye  how  to  knit,  or  Lion  to 
sniff  out  where  the  bones  is  ?  'Cause  it  ain't  fit  for  ye,  and 
'cause  ye  couldn't  learn  it,  and  'cause  it  wouldn't  do  ye  good  if 
ye  could,"  w^as  Ike's,  as  usual,  unsatisfactory  reply.  But,  for  all 
his  ailing  wits,  poor  Ike  worked  as  hard,  and  as  fairly  earned 
his  share  as  any  one  on  the  Bar.  With  his  own  free  consent  it 
had  been  agreed  that  Seth  should  take  charge  of  this  share,  de 
ducting  what  each  regularly  paid  toward  the  expenses  of  the 
household.  The  Doctor,  who  had  watched  his  case  with  interest, 
was  of  opinion  that  the  change  of  scene  from  his  old  home  on 
the  Ohio,  together  with  regular  and  healthful  occupation,  might 
effect  a  change  for  the  better  in  his  mental  condition ;  but 
although  there  was  now  and  then  an  apparently  lucid  interval, 
it  was  always  soon  interrupted  by  a  relapse  into  his  usual  con 
dition.  It  was  a  case,  indeed,  which  some  great  and  unexpected 
shock  was  more  likely  to  restore  than  any  monotonous  routine 
of  life,  and  such  could  only  be  brought  about  by  fate  or  acci 
dent,  and  could  not  be  improvised  at  will. 

Whatever  might  be  the  varying  hopes  or  ambitions  of  the 
members  of  our  little  band,  there  was  no  want  of  energy  or  in 
genuity  in  the  pursuit  of  the  common  object.  Day  followed 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  133 

day,  and  week  succeeded  week,  and  there  was  no  sickness,  no 
interruption,  save  on  the  Sabbath,  to  the  lucrative  toil.  All 
worked  as  it'  this  was  the  sole  chance  to  overtake  fortune,  and 
they  were  determined  the  fickle  goddess  should  not  escape  them. 
Occasionally  Mr.  Pangburn  would  absent  himself  for  a  day  or 
two's  attention  to  the  afiairs  of  the  ;i  Mountain  Clarion,"  but 
the  zeal  and  vigor  with  which  he  resumed  his  post  at  the  work 
on  his  return  were  universally  allowed  to  compensate  for  such 
defections  of  his  time.  He  had  the  ait,  too,  of  making  himself 
generally  useful  in  a  manner  which  gradually  gained  on  the 
popular  esteem.  He  it  was  who  brought  pipes  and  tobacco, 
and  replenished  the  failing  supply  of  whiskey.  He  who  brought 
calicoes  for  the  females,  yarns  for  Mrs.  Armstrong,  even  needles 
and  pins,  at  times  when  those  little  articles  were  scarce  and 
most  needed.  Occasionally,  newspapers  from  the  Atlantic 
States,  and  even  an  odd  volume  or  two,  would  gladden  the  Sun 
days  at  the  Bar  with  intelligence  and  food  for  reflection,  which 
were  much  in  request.  Even  the  Doctor  was  in  course  of  time 
propitiated  by  offerings  of  small  nicknacks  in  the  way  of  sta 
tionery,  and  other  trifles  difficult  to  get  in  the  mines,  but  quite 
necessary  to  his  peace  and  comfort.  Notwithstanding  the  un- 
couthness  of  his  person,  and  the  unfavorable  impression  he  had 
first  made  on  many  of  the  company,  Mr.  Paugburn  was  certainly 
improving  upon  acquaintance;  and  when  it  was  remembered 
that  he  was,  in  a  great  measure,  the  author  of  the  prosperity 
which  they  now  enjoyed,  it  was  not  surprising  that  the  settlers 
on  the  Bar  grew  in  time  to  regard  him  very  much  in  the  light 
of  a  public  benefactor. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

I  AM  afraid  Hugh  Gifford  was  not  a  model  hero.  It  has  al 
ready  been  hinted  that  he  did  not  impress  me  on  our  first 
acquaintance  as  a  very  prepossessing  personage.  I  may  as  well 
go  further,  and  say  that  it  took  a  long  time  to  find  out  the  good 
that  was  really  in  liini ;  and  that  it  would  not  surprise  me  to 
know  that  the  reader  were  very  ready  to  appreciate  the  circum 
stance.  He  was  in  truth  one  of  those  people  whom  hard  fortune 
and  unfavorable  surroundings  lead  into  the  habit  of  continually 
turning  the  wor^t  side  of  their  character  outwards.  Believing 


134  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

himself  to  have  been  ill-used,  whether  by  accident  or  fate;  too 
proud  to  go  through  the  world  making  complaints ;  having  a 
finely  balanced  mind,  and  a  very  sensitive  nervous  organization ; 
despising,  whether  jdstly  or  not,  most  of  those  with  whom  he 
was  brought  in  contact ;  habitually  taking  refuge  in  books,  be 
cause  debarred  from  congenial  and  appropriate  society  ;  believ 
ing  from  his  earliest  youth  that  there  was  something  incongruous 
and  oppressive  in  the  social  structure  and  political  tenets  which 
encircled  him ;  feeling  that  he  possessed  talents  which  in  a  less 
depressing  atmosphere  would  enable  him  to  do  good  for  mankind 
and  satisfy  his  own  self-respect,  it  was  natural  that  with  such 
qualities  and  with  such  disabilities  he  should  have  become  re 
served  and  suspicious;  it  was  natural  that  he  should  have  be 
come  very,  very  proud ; .  and  it  was  natural  that  he  should  be, 
at  first  at  least,  very  much  disliked  by  nearly  all  whom  chance 
threw  in  his  way. 

It  is  not  easy  to  defend  such  a  character ;  but  it  would  be 
most  unjust  to  condemn  it.  A  man  who,  by  his  coldness  and 
reticence,  habitually  prohibits  attempts  at  sympathetic  inter 
course,  soon  gains  more  clisesteem  than  he  deserves.  We  are 
.apt  to  resent  such  a  want  of  appreciation  of  ourselves  by  attrib 
uting  to  the  offender  bad  qualities,  of  which  he  has  given  no 
other  evidence,  and  of  which  lie  may  really  be  innocent.  He 
becomes  exceedingly  unpopular ;  and  it  is  not  an  adequate  recom 
pense  that  such  men,  disliked  by  society,  should  always  be  the 
favorites  of  philosophers,  and,  almost  as  invariably,  the  favorites 
of  clever  women.  Such  men  have  much  to  suffer  ;  and  what 
ever  the  origin  of  their  peculiarities — whether  they  have  sprung 
from  the  unmerited  persecutions  of  fortune,  or  have  their  source 
in  mere  morbid  egotism — the  world  is  ever  slow  to  do  them 
justice — ever  ready  to  listen  to  their  censure.  She  loves  not 
those  who  do  not  seek  her  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ;  she  is  bitterly 
hostile  to  those  who  affect  to  despise  her. 

There  was  something  interwoven  in  the  texture  of  Hugh's 
intellect  from  which  he  could  no  more  escape  than  from  the 
blood  in  his  veins.  A  feeling  of  distaste  for  the  ways  of  the  peo 
ple  by  whom  his  boyhood  and  youth  had  been  surrounded;  a 
dislike  of  their  dress,  their  speech,  their  physiognomy,  their  re 
ligious  observances,  their  social  practices  ;  a  loathing  for  the  col- 
orlessness  of  life,  as  life  had  to  be  lived  among  them  ;  a  hatred 
for  square  houses,  and  straight  roads,  and  naked  fields,  and  the 
other  too  numerous  signs  oi'  dreary  asceticism,  of  provincial  in 
tolerance.  These  were  the  outward  and  visible  signs  of  a 'social 
condition  which  seemed  to  his  nature  most  repellent,  and,  as  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  135 

producer  of  general  happiness,  a  blank  delusion.  No  servants 
or  other  blind  teachers  had  ever  infused  prejudices  into  his  mind. 
Had  they  made  such  efforts,  they  would  have  made  them  in  an 
opposite  direction  :  they  would  have  striven  to  persuade  him 
that  America  was  the  choicest  country,  in  every  respect,  in  the 
universe  ;  that  Xew  England  was  the  choicest  part  of  America ; 
and  that  Massachusetts  was  the  choicest  part  of  New  England. 
They  would  have  taught  him  that  her  laws,  her  schools,  her 
temples,  her  people,  were  more  glorious  than  those  of  Imperial 
Rome,  or  of  Academic  Greece.  They  would  have  insisted  that 
no  system  of  government  could  compare  with  one  which  placed 
its  power  in  the  hands  of  the  ignorant  many,  and  judiciously 
relegated  to  inert  obscurity  the  thinking  few  :  all  these  things 
they  would  have  reported,  and  he  would  probably  not  have  be 
lieved  them  ;  but  no  such  experiment  had,  in  point  of  tact,  ever 
been  made.  His  mind,  such  as  it  was,  grew  up  and  expanded, 
and  took  in  such  knowledge  as  it  craved  and  could  lay  hold  of, 
and  arrived  at  its  own  conclusions. 

He  saw  and  felt  early  that  to  make  any  figure  in  the  world  he 
must  first  get  money.  That  to  get  it  he  must  meet  and  grapple 
with  cunning  and  unscrupulous  men,  and  perhaps  become  as 
cunning  and  unscrupulous  as  they.  AVhere  there  was  only  one 
object  of  ambition,  and  the  means  universally  regarded  as  indif 
ferent,  provided  the  end  were  attained,  it  seemed  clear  that  no 
one  could  reach  that  end  and  hope  to  preserve  clean  hands  and 
an  unsullied  conscience.  The  case  was  simplicity  itself.  It  was 
running  a  race  in  a  narrow,  filthy  avenue  with  crowds  of  dirty 
competitors,  and  mountains  of  mud  and  slime  to  struggle 
through  ;  yet  there  was  nothing  else  to  be  done — there  was  no 
cleaner  road,  no  selecter  companions  :  it  was  this  or  nothing. 
The  conclusion  was  revolting  enough,  but  really  there  was  no 
help  for  it. 

Having  made  up  his  mind  to  this,  Hugh  Gifford  went  his  way, 
always  secretly  despising  himself.  He  was  unfortunate,  truly, 
in  meeting  no*loftier  natures  than  he  did — natures  which  might 
have  taught  him  where  his  errors  lay  in  a  kindly  spirit — might 
have  revealed  to  him  glimpses  of  that  knowledge  which  surely 
comes  to  each  and  all  of  us  sometimes,  the  fulness  of  which  is 
as  the  eternal  day.  He  was  unfortunate  in  the  women  toward 
whom  he  had  ever  been  attracted — even  in  that  lonely,  helpless 
sort  of  way  that  men  turn  toward  utterly  uncongenial,  incom 
patible  women,  in  the  absence  of  any  more  eligible  or  loveable — 
vainly  groping  after  the  help  and  consolation  which  seems  so 
long  in  coming.  The  last  and  gravest — it  might  almost  be  said 


136  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

the  only — attraction  of  this  kind  had  been  no  more  productive 
than  any  other.  He  fancied  he  loved  Virginia  Chester,  and  no 
doubt  he  did  admire  her  as  much  as  any  other  ever  could  or 
would  ;  bat  that  he  loved  her  as  he  was  capable  of  loving  was 
untrue ;  and  he  was  tormented,  even  when  most  resolute  in 
thinking  of  the  prospective  consummation  of  duty  and  inclina 
tion — their  marriage — by  a  dismal  consciousness  of  the  fact. 

Now,  whatever  might  be  its  permanent  effect  upon  his  char 
acter,  his  meeting  and  association  with  Marian  Roqke  made  Gif- 
ford  much  less  comfortable — less  at  ease  with  himself — less  con 
tent  to  pursue  the  path  he  had  inwardly  traced  out — than  he  had 
been  before.  She  saw,  with  that  singular  prescience  which 
women  of  her  stamp  possess,  and  which  is  unerring  as  it  is  in 
explicable,  that  the  young  man  had  latent  qualities  of  a  far 
higher  and  nobler  nature  than  those  which  appeared  on  the  sur 
face  of  his  character — qualities  which  needed  appreciation,  cul 
ture,  encouragement,  it  is  true,  but  which  were  not  the  less  gen 
uine  and  not  the  less  worthy  of  all  that  could  bo  bestowed  to 
draw  them  forth.  How  far  Marian  was  actuated  by  a  warmer 
than  a  mere  speculative  interest  in  the  matter  we  may  fairly 
leave  for  the  present  out  of  the  discussion  ,'  suffice  that  her  self 
respect  was  of  too  high  a  standard  to  permit  such  a  sentiment  to 
become  apparent,  either  to  Hugh  or  others.  True,  they  were 
often  together,  and  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  each  other's  soci 
ety  ;  but  it  was  known  that  Gilford  was  already  engaged,  and 
there  was  that  about  Marian  which  prevented  people  from  in 
dulging  either  in  word  or  thought  of  the  fleering  sort,  so  com 
mon  when  young  men  and  maidens  talk  much  together.  There 
was  an  exception  to  the  general  view  in  the  breast  of  Luke 
Armstrong  ;  but  of  that  hereafter. 

Sometimes  by  hints,  sometimes  by  suggestions,  sometimes  by 
soaring  pictures  of  what  was  her  own  ideal  of  life  and  its  du 
ties,  sometimes  by  processes  of  questioning  and  inference  too 
subtle  to  be  more  than  shadowed  by  mere  words,  whenever  the 
girl  was  with  Gifford  this  awakening  or  developing  influence 
was  slowly  but  surely  at  work.  Oftentimes  it  would  be  uncon 
sciously  to  both,  but  it  never  ceased.  There  would  be  occa 
sions  when  Marian  would  feel  that  she  had  gone  too  far  ;  that 
their  relative  situations  did  not  warrant  her  seeking  to  reverse 
his  convictions,  or  to  change  the  current  of  his  resolutions. 
There  would  be  occasions  when  >o.e  would  hold  half  angry  com 
mune  with  himself,  and  determine  that  it  was  foolish,  vain,  im 
possible  to  overthrow  the  teachings  of  his  whole  experience,  and 
to  set  up  new  objects  of  ambition.  But  neither  of  these  occa- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  137 

sions  were  productive  of  any  tangible  results  ;  for  that  which 
was  going  on  was  chiefly  involuntary,  and  in  obedience  to  im 
mutable  laws.  The  earth  would  go  round  the  sun,  and  not  the 
sun  round  the  earth,  Papal  decisions  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing. 

I  do  not  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  through  this  regener 
ating  influence  Hugh  Gilford  was  metamorphosed,  of  a  sudden, 
from  a  warped,  self-contained  egotist,  to  a  great-souled,  high- 
minded  man ;  that  would  have  been  too  miraculous  for  real  life, 
and  we  have  to  do  with  no  other.  The  process,  indeed,  was  a 
slow  one,  and,  like  the  incoming  tide,  showed  a  long  series  of 
advances  and  retrocessions.  When  I  began  to  know  .the  man — 
I  mean  when  I  penetrated  the  first  crust  of  his  reserve,  and  to 
catch  glimpses  of  his  real  character — I  doubted  whether  the 
good  or  the  bad  most  predominated.  It  was  a  singular  trait 
with  him,  at  that  time,  to  deal  with  people  much  in  their  own 
coin.  I  have  known  him  to  get  the  better  of  unprincipled 
sharpers — to  turn  the  tables  upon  them  when  they  laid  their 
deepest  schemes  to  circumvent  him,  and  positively  to  fleece 
them  in  turn.  This  surely  was  not  right.  It  was  what  he 
could  never  have  done  had  Marian  Kooke  stood  near,  watching 
his  course  with  her  calm,  earnest  eyes.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  Hugh  had  to  deal  with  a  man  of  honor — with  a  person  of 
plain,  guileless  integrity — there  could  be  no  juster  judge,  no 
more  trustworthy  friend.  If  he  alone  had  had  to  deal  with  him, 
I  doubt  not  Hugh  would  have  even  got  the  better  of  Mr.  Pang- 
burn  ;  albeit  it  had  been  a  marvellous  encounter,  and  opinions 
might  well  waver  as  to  its  issue.  But  had  he  to  deal  with  Seth 
Armstrong,  or  with  his  son  Luke,  you  might  adventure  worlds 
that  if  there  were  an  advantage  Hugh  would  cast  it  against 
himself. 

It  followed  that  tricky  and  dishonest  people — and  there  were 
abundance  of  such  in  those  early  Californian  days — were  apt,  on 
coining  into  contact  with  our  hero,  to  hail  him  as  one  of  their 
own  order ;  and  that  upright,  simple,  and  straightforward  peo 
ple — of  whom  there  were  unhappily  but  few — would  put  in  a 
similar  claim.  JCach  class  was  equally  sincere — equally  right  and 
equally  wrong;  but  a  comparison  of  their  relative  numbers 
would  augur  unfavorably  for  Hugh's  reputation. 

There  were  two  of  the  company  at  Armstrong's  Bar  whose 
attachment  to  Gilford  was  utterly  independent  of  his  merits  or 
defects.  Had  he  been  an  angel  from  heaven  they  could  have 
clung  to  him  no  closer ;  had  he  been  a  fiend  incarnate  they 
would  have  loved  him  no  less.  These  were  Ichabod  and  Lion. 


138  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

.  The  memory  of  the  moment  when,  by  a  happy  accident,  the 
life  of  the  latter  had  been  saved  by  Hugh's  interposition,  seemed 
ever  fresh  in  the  breasts  alike  of  the  animal  and  his  master. 
Neither  had  the  human  wit  to  know  why  they  should  dislike, 
but  both  appeared  to  have  gratitude  enough  to  love  a  benefac 
tor.  The  others  of  the  party  grew  to  understand  and  like  him 
better  as  time  wore  on.  Those  especially  who  did  not  fancy 
Hugh  before  their  great  trial  and  deliverance  on  the  plains,  were 
mollified  by  the  courage  and  steadiness  he  had  shown  on  that 
occasion.  Dick  Railes  and  his  followers  were  of  those  con 
verts  :  but  none  of  them  were  or  could  be  fit  associates  for 
Hugh  ;  and  their  intercourse  was  limited  to  a  common  friendli 
ness,  such  as  came  naturally  with  their  common  toil.  Leaving 
Marian  out  of  the  question,  none  could  be  called  his  intimates 
save  these  two  alone. 

So,  therefore,  it  was,  that,  whether  engaged  in  the  rude, 
rough  labor  of  digging  and  washing  for  gold — whether  strolling 
with  Marian  at  early  morning  or  in  the  dusky  evening  on  the 
banks  of  the  stream — whether  exploring  in  the  fastnesses  and 
recesses  of  the  mountains  and  forests  for  fresh  sources  of  wealth, 
fresh  signs  of  auriferous  deposit — whether  sitting  on  the  brink 
of  a  lovely  little  lake  they  had  found  perched  clear  away  up 
among  the  hills — whether  waking  or  sleeping,  Hugh  was  all  but 
invariably  attended  by  a  body-guard  in  the  persons  of  the  poor 
simpleton  and  his  faithful  dog. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

/  , 

"  So  you'll  not  leave  the  Armstrongs  after  all.  You  won't  go 
on  a  solitary  ramble  to  hunt  for  fresh  gold-fields,  but  will  stay 
and  make  your  fortune  on  the  Bar  ?" 

Thus  said  Marian,  as  they  sat  together  one  quiet  Sunday  morn 
ing  by  the  shore  of  the  lake  which  was  perched  up  among  the 
hills.  They  sat  on  a  little  cushion  of  velvet  tarf  which  crowned  a 
tiny  promontory  jutting  into  the  lake.  A  few  feet  belo\v  them 
lay  the  placid  water,  smooth  as  glass.  Above  were  the  tall 
branches  of  a  great  redwood,  which  neither  waved  nor  whisper 
ed  in  the  motionless  air.  All  around  lay  an  amphitheatre  of  low 
hills,  their  outlines  broken  here  and  there  by  spreading  foliage  ; 
whilst  masses  of  dark-gray  rock,  some  imbedded  in  the  earth.; 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  139 

pome  lying  apparently  loose  on  its  surface,  relieved  the  preen, 
and  told  the  curious  eye  a  story  of  not  very  remote  volcanic  com 
motion.  At  a  short  distance,  on  the  edge  of  the  water,  crouched 
Ike,  sedulously  engaged  in  the  difficult  problem  of  making  a  little 
vessel  lie  had  carved  of  redwood,  sail  without  wind  ;  and  Lion 
lay  by,  watching  the  endeavor  with  incredulous  apathy.  It  was 
a  very  lazy  day,  with  a  soft,  lulling  atmosphere,  not  common  in 
regions  where  the  air  is  so  elastic.  There  were  lumps  of  white 
cloud  hanging  over  head  and  looking  like  gigantic  powder-puffs, 
wh  ose  images  were  reflected  in  the  mirror  below,  distinct  and 
*'M\  as  the  originals. 

"Who  knows  ]"  replied  Hugh  tossing  a  bit  of  stick  toward 
T,ion,  and  managing  to  land  it  on  his  back ;  the  dog  turned 
«uickly,  and,  seeing  who  was  his  assailant,  gave  a  slow  wag  of 
his  tail  and  resumed  his  languid  observation  of  Ike.  k'  Who 
knows?  Tilings  look  promising  enough  so  far,  but  we  have  no 
assurance  of  lasting  success.  The  yield  may  drop  as  quickly  as 
it  rose.  This  gold-digging  is  very  like  a  rocket :  very  brilliant 
one  moment,  very  dull  the  next.  All  we  can  do  is  to  make  the 
most  of  it  while  it  lasts.  We  had  a  dazzling  week  of  it,  to  be 
surc — nearly  a  thousand  dollars  a  man ;  and  the  coming  week 
may  see  us  fall  to  our  old  average  of  fifty.  Still,  I  grant  the 
prospect  is  a  good  one." 

'•I  am  so  glad,"  said  Marian,  "  that  you  resisted  that  man's 
attempt  to  get  the  party  to  work  on  Sundays.  Others  do  it,  no 
doubt ;  but  it  would  seem  so  dreary  and  barbarous — far  away  in 
these  unpeopled  wilds  as  we  are,  and  a  hundred  miles  from  any 
church — to  have  no  day  of  rest,  nothing  to  remind  one  of  the 
sweet  Sabbath  of  childhood." 

The  miners  on  the  Bar  had  resolved  at  the  outset  to  do  no 
labor  on  Sundays ;  and  had  found  their  account,  as  people 
usually  will,  by  accomplishing  quite  as  much  in  the  six  days  as 
any  of  their  neighbors  did  in  seven.  It  was  rare  in  those 
times  for  any  of  the  diggers  to  respect  the  Lord's  day  any  more 
tli an  another.  Their  feverish  thirst  for  gold  would  have  made 
them  work  by  night,  if  nature  and  starlight  would  have  allowed 
it.  When  the  Sundays  first  began  to  be  distinguished  in  the 
various  diggings,  it  was  rather,  as  in  Catholic  countries,  as  a  day 
of  festivity  than  one  of  prayer ;  gambling  being  the  favorite  diver 
sion,  with  its  usual  concomitants  of  drinking  and  blasphemous 
revelry, 

••I  don't  know  that  they  get  more  more  gold,"  answered 
Hugh,  thoughtfully  ;  u  but  the  men  are  more  healthy  and  happy, 
for  a  day  to  bathe  and  tidy  their  clothes,  and  write  then-  letters. 


140  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

There  are  sad  scenes,  we  hear,  in  the  larger  places  on  Sundays. 
But  we  have  gained  as  well  as  lost  something  by  our  isolation. 
Not  but  that  we  have  a  very  good  set ;  but  the  best  of  men  will 
drink  or  gamble,  or  go  a  little  wrong,  so  far  from  the  restraints 
of  home,  and  leading  so  strange — so  unusual  a  life." 

"You  will  make  your  fortune  on  the  Bar,"  continued  the 
girl,  pursuing  her  former  train  of  thought,  "  and  return  home, 
rich.  But  you  must  not  stay  at  home.  That  would  be  only  to 
become  settled  and  confirmed  in  ways  and  thoughts  which  are 
not  best  for  your  future.  You  must  travel ;  travel  and  study. 
There  are  many  strange  things  you  should  know  of — many  you 
should  see,  which  you  have  no  great  knowledge  of  now."  . 

"True,"  said  the  young  man,  humbly,  "too  many." 

"Don't  say  'too  many,'  for  that  implies  a  hopelessness  which 
doesn't  belong  to  cight-and-twenty,  good  health,  a  fortune — in 
prospective,  and  a  beautiful  wife  to  encourage  you." 

"Equally  in  prospective!" 

"  You  will  travel — chiefly  in  Europe,  for  there  almost  all 
things  are  to  be  learned.  You  must  spend  your  time  mostly  in 
England  and  France,  for  in  those  countries  there  is  more  to  learn 
than  in  the  whole  of  Europe  beside.  You  must  study  their 
manners,  their  arts,  their  laws,  and  their  governments — not 
superficially,  but  so  as  to  have  a  substantial,  if  not  a  particular 
knowledge  of  them  all.  You  must  especially  note  the  differences 
which  exist  between  all  these  things  and  similar  or  analogous 
ones  in  your  own  country.  You  must  be  able  to  judge  for  your 
self  how  far  we  in  America  are  really  in  advance,  and  how 
far  we  are  behind  the  progress  and  civilization  of  other  nations ; 
for  the  people  of  all  countries  are  apt  to  be  conceited,  and  to 
suppose,  from  the  continued  boasting  they  hear  all  around  them, 
that  their  own  is  superior  to  every  other.  You,  perhaps,  are 
somewhat  different ;  you  seem  to  think  that  in  our  country — at 
least  in  your  part  of  it — we  are  not  so  well  off  as  others  in  some 
important  respects.  It  will  be  well,  therefore,  that  you  should 
see  for  yourself  the  condition  of  the  population  in  other  lands, 
so  that  you  may  form  a  really  just  comparison.  After  some 
years  devoted  to  this  kind  of  study  and  investigation,  you  will 
return  home." 

"I  fear,"  said  Hugh,  smiling,  "that  supposing  all  these 
castles  to  be  built  of  anything  more  substantial  than  air — sup 
posing  them  to  be  resolved  into  solid  realities — that  if  I  found 
myself  in  Europe  with  a  sufficient  income,  reasonably  assured 
I  should  falsity  your  sketch." 

"Ah,  you  mean  you  could  remain1?" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  141 

"  I  think  so." 

"  And  I  thought  so — and  that  is  precisely  what  you  would 
have  no  right  to  do." 

"  No  right  ?     Not  if  I  made  my  fortune  by  my  ownhonest  toil?" 

"Xo." 

"I  think  you  combat  your  own  theories  there.  You  say  that 
self-culture  is  our  first  and  highest  duty,  but  you  would  refuse 
the  right  to  stay  where  such  culture  could  be  practised  with  the 
best  advantage.  Surely  if  the  sight  of  all  that  is  most  ennobling 
and  artistic  in  the  works  of  the  most  cultivated  of  our  species — 
the  monuments  of  architecture,  of  sculpture,  of  painting— if 
the  survey  of  what  remains  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  our 
race,  ranging  far  back  into  the  history  of  the  past — if  the  con 
templation,  on  the  spot,  of  the  results  which  have  arisen  from 
the  successes  and  the  failures- of  dynasties — if  these  are  not  the 
objects  whose  study  is  most  conducive  to  self-improvement, 
what  things  are  more  so  ?" 

"There  are  none,  I  suppose." 

''But  yet  you  would  censure  me  for  wishing  to  remain  among 
them  r 

"Xo  ;  not  if  you  were  justified  in  living  for  yourself  alone. 
But  what  human  being  is  so  justified  ?  How,  least  of  all  can,  any 
one  be  justified  in  a  country  like  this,  where  there  is  such  vast 
work  to  be  done,  and  so  few  to  do  it  ?  Of  what  avail  is  your 
culture  to  be,  if  it  is  only  to  conduce  to  your  own  selfish  gratifi 
cation  ?  How  can  any  of  us  regard  such  opportunities  of  im 
provement — opportunities  given  us  like  talents  to  use  for  the  ben 
efit  of  all  around  us — if,  like  talents,  they  are  to  be  wrapped  up 
and  put  away  in  a  napkin  ?  No  ;  you  will  see  all  you  can,  learn 
all  you  cnn,  think  all  you  can,  and  you  will  then  return  to  give 
your  country  the  benefit  of  what  you  have  acquired." 

"  Virginia  could  not  sympathize  with  all  this,"  said  GhTord, 
sadly. 

"  You  ought  to  teach  her,  then.  If  you  have  the  fortune,  or 
the  wit  to  see  and  use  noble  means  for  raising,  or  aiding,  or  free 
ing  your  fellow-beings,  that  happiness,  the  purest  and  most  sub 
lime  of  which  humanity  is  capable,  should  be  shared  by  her  whom 
you  swear  to  love,  to  cherish,  and  to  protect." 

"I  would  gladly  do  my  duty;  but  natures — souls — are  so 
very,  very  different.  Could  you  teach  Ike,  there,  to  fancy 
Wordsworth,  or  Mr.  Pangburn  to  appreciate  the  beauties  of  Ten 
nyson  ?  She  is  good,  and  gentle,  and  true  ;  but  I  do  not  think 
she  would  understand  such  tastes  as  you  describe,  were  I  to 
strive  ever  so  hard  to  teach  them." 


142  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OK, 

"  Women  are,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  more  capable  than  your 
sex  are  disposed  to  believe.  At  least,  you  can  try  the  experi- 
ent,  and  should  you  fail,  you  will  not  have  yourself  to  blame. 
As  for  me " 

Marian  paused,  for  the  sun  behind  now  caused  some  long 
shadows  to  darken  the  water  before  them,  and  she  perceived 
that  the  company  was  more  numerous  than  she  had  thought.  A 
few  paces  off,  and  slowly  descending  the  slope,  were  Luke  Arm 
strong  and  Mr.  Pangbnrn. 

"  Ye  crags  and  peaks,  I'm  with  ye  once  agin  I"  declaimed  the 
latter.  "  I'd  no  idee  there  Avas  such  a  pooty  place  on  the  Bar! 
Here,  p'raps, "the  sedgy  Injun  once  paddled  his  dusky  canoe — 
here  he  barbecued  his  venison,  and  frizzled  his  taters,  and  had  no 
man  to  make  him  afraid  !  No  offence,  I  hope,  none  intended, 
public  property,  hey  ?  And  the  hull  company  invited  to  a  syl 
van  shade,  sacred  to  love  and  water-paower  !" 

"  I  wouldn't  have  disturbed  you,  Mary  Anne,"  said  Luke,  and 
there  was  a  faint  touch  of  reproach  in  his  manner,  "  or  you,  Mr. 
Gifford,  but  there's  letters  jest  come  for  both  of  ye,  and  I  tho't 
you'd  like  to  have  'em." 

"  Thank  you  very  much,  Luke,"  answered  the  girl ;  "  you  are 
always  kind." 

"Mr.  Pangburn  said  he'd  like  to  take  a  walk,"  continued  Luke, 
half  apologetically,  "  and  so  he  come  along." 

"  Ilopin',"  added  that  gentleman,  sarcastically,  "that  his  room 
ain't  better  than  his  company." 

"The  place  is  free  to  all,  I  suppose,"  said  Hugh  Gifford,  cold 
ly  ;  "there  are  no  monopolies  here." 

"No  more  they  ought  to  be.  What's  the  use  of  havin'  a  free 
country  if  ye  ain't  free  to  go  where  you  like  in  it  ?  The  beauty 
of  Californy,  when  I  fust  come  to  it,  was  that  there  weren't  a 
fence  the  hull  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  'cept  corrals  to  stow 
the  cattle  in." 

"  This  is  for  you,  Mary  Anne,  and  it  looks  as  if  it  had  a 
European  postmark.  And  this  is  for  you,  Mr.  Gifford." 

"  Any  intelligence  of  interest  bein'  understood  to  be  bespoke 
for  the  Mounting  Clarion,"  suggested  Zclotes. 

"  I  doubt  whether  mine  will  be  of  any  service,"  said  Marian, 
smiling,  "  since  my  correspondent  is  neither  much  interested  in 
public  affairs  nor  very  communicative  ;  but,  with  your  leave,  I'll 
see  what  he  says." 

She  walked  quietly  away  as  she  finished ;  and  Gifford,  after  re 
ceiving  his  own  missive  and  thanking  its  bearer,  as  deliberately 
went  in  the  same  direction,  and  was  seen  to  join  and  walk  by 


THE  QUEST  FOB  FORTUNE.  143 

Marian's  side  ;  whereupon  Lion  gravely  arose,  and,  with  meas 
ured  steps,  followed  in  their  track  ;  and  Ike,  quite  as  a  matter 
of  course,  having  withdrawn  his  vessel  from  the  glassy  water, 
proceeded  to  follow  the  dog.  The  two  thus  left  behind,  looked 
for  a  moment  at  the  retreating  figures  and  then  at  each  other. 

"  That  ere 's  kind  o'  sociable,  ain't  it?"  commented  Mr.  Pang- 
burn,  grinning  after  the  pah*  like  a  rat  of  an  ironical  turn. 
"Two's  company  and  more  isn't,  eh  ?  For  I  don't  count  that 
'ere  silly  cuss  nothink.  Let  on  now,  will  ye,  how  long's  young 
Bosting  been  sweet  on  the  gal  ?" 

"Sweet  on  her!"  echoed  Luke,  half  angrily  ;  "he  ain't — he 
can't  be." 

"  It  looks  tarnation  like  it.     Why  can't  he  be  ?" 

"Because  it's  impossible." 

"  Six  o'  one  and  half-a-dozen  o'  the  other.  Handsome  gal — 
eyes  like  lightniir — lips  like  coral — pooty  bust — clipper-built  all 
over.  Young  man  silent  and  gloomy — stuck  up,  rather — no 
other  gals  round  'cept  that  pooty  sister  o'  yourn  and  she  en 
gaged  to  that  'ere  backwoodsman  and  might  do  better;  'pears  to 
me  natural  these  folks  should  be  sweet." 

"  I  tell  you  it's  out  of  the  question.  She's  too  good  ;  and  I 
don't  think,  for  that  matter,  that  he's  the  man  to  do  a  real  mean 
thing." 

"  Nuthin'  mean  'bout  bein'  sweet,  is  there  ?  That  ain't  what 
/  call  it.  I  never  see  a  pooty  gal  yit  who  was  too  good  to  be 
cottoned  up  to." 

"  You  don't  understand,"  said  the  other,  impatiently  ;  "Hugh 
GhTord  isn't  his  own  man  ;  he's  engaged — engaged  to  be  mar 
ried  to  a  young  lady  at  home — his  home — in  Massachusetts." 

"  Thunder  !     Why  didn't  ye  tell  me  that  afore  ?" 

"  Tell  you  !     Why  should  I  ?" 

"  What's  a  young  feller  like  you  up  to,  that  lets  a  chap  who's 
spoke  for  lug  a  gal  like  that  right  away  from  under  his  nose  ? 
Where's  yer  spunk  ?  If  I  weren't  in  somethin'  like  the  same 
box  as  his'n — not,"  he  added  in  the  way  of  parenthesis,  and  gaz 
ing  speculatively  on  Marian's  form,  now  disappearing  beyond 
the  opposite  slope,  "  but  what  I  could  wriggle  aout  if  I  tried 
hard — referrin'  to  a  young  lady  in  Utiky — I'd  try  it  on  merself." 

The  blood  mounted  to  Luke's  brow,  and  he  bit  his  lips  to  keep 
himself  from  an  angry  retort.  Rough  and  uneducated  as  he  was, 
he  had  delicacy  and  perception  enough,  independently  of  his 
o\vn  particular  ieelings,  to  be  outraged  by  the  incongruous  asso 
ciation,  even  in  idle  words,  of  such  a  woman  as  Marian  and  the 
satyr-like  creature  beside  him. 


144  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"You  see,"  he  explained,  finally,  "she's  not  a  gurl  to  flirt 
with  any  one  in  a  common  way ;  she  knows  too  much.  Her 
and  him  have  read  a  good  many  of  the  same  books — for  he's 
got  a  sight  o'  book  learnin' — and  they  like  to  talk  together 
about  'em.  Seein'  every  one  knows  he's  engaged,  and  allers 
treated  her  so  distant  and  respectful,  it  ain't  nobody's  business,  I 
s'pose." 

"  And  what  does  your  sister  Kitty  and  Miss  Armstrong — 
what  do  they  think  about  sech  goin's  on  1" 

"  Think?  Why,  they  think  the  same's  the  rest  on  us,  I  take 
it,  and  mind  their  own  business."  And  Luke  began  to  walk 
slowly  homewards.  Mr.  Pangbum  was  not  unobservant  of  the 
flush  on  his  companion's  face  and  the  tremor  in  his  voice  during 
this  little  discussion.  But,  partly  to  satisfy  his  curiosity,  and 
partly  from  a  love  of  small  mischief,  in  which  he  sometimes  in 
dulged,  he  essayed  to  resolve  his  doubts  into  certainty.  He 
walked  along  in  a  reflective  manner  for  a  while,  and  then  said : 
"  Gals  is  allers  kind  o'  risky  when  they're  much  with  young  fel 
lers  who  talk  'bout  books,  and  poetry,  and  sech  things.  There 
was  a  gal  named  Amandy  Tomkins  clrowndcd  herself  in  a  well 
up  our  way,  in  Utiky,  'cause  a  married  man — a  dreadful  talky, 
moony  kind  of  a  cuss — come  round  her  in  this  same  fashion, 
pretendin'  to  be  single,  and  blowin'  oft"  steam  'bout  pomes  and 
sympathetic  souls,  and  all  this  'ere  entanglin'  sawder  they  go  in 
for,  when  they  know  regular  courtin'  ain't  down  in  the  bill." 

"  You  don't  mean,"  said  Luke,  turning  quite  pale  and  coming 
to  a  halt,  "  You  don't  mean  that  Mary  Anne's  the  gurl,  even  if 
Hugh  Giflbrd  was  the  man,  to " 

"  I  don't  mean  nuthin',"  replied  Mr.  Pangburn,  reassuringly, 
for  he  saw  rather  an  ominous  look  in  Luke's  eye,  "  I  don't  mean 
nuthin'  that's  wrong.  Only,  if  I  was  the  gal's  father,  or  brother, 
or  was  interested  in  her  in  any  way,  I'd  think  prevention  was 
better  than  cure,  that's  all.  She's  an  awful  nice  gal,"  he  contin 
ued,  by  way  of  additional  mollification,  "  and  I  think  she  jest 
takes  the  rag  off  any  she  critter  in  the  diggin's." 

Luke  made  no  reply,  but  walked  on,- buried  in  abstraction. 
The  conversation  had  kindled  thoughts  which  were  most  painful 
to  him.  Even  against  the  warnings  of  his  more  sensible  self, 
he  had  suffered  the  dangerous  beauty  of  Marian  to  gain  a  seri 
ous  influence  over  his  heart.  He  knew  full  well  his  own  defi 
ciencies,  for  he  was  as  free  from  conceit  as  he  was  honest  and 
simple-minded ;  but  he  had  sometimes,  especially  since  they 
were  growing  richer,  indulged  in  the  dream  that,  after  all,  poor 
and  homeless  as  was  Marian,  and  living  as  they  were  in  a  soci- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  145 

ety  where  deficiencies  of  culture  would  be  least  perceived  or 
least  missed — the  dream  tHat  she  might  overlook  all  that,  and  ac 
cept  the  protection  of  his  name  and  stalwart  arm.  He  had  not 
liked  her  manifest  partiality  for  Gifford' s  society ;  but,  partly 
from  diffidence  and  partly  from  good  nature,  he  had  never  more 
than  faintly  indicated  such  a  thing.  Besides,  he  knew  of  Hugh's 
engagement ;  and,  moreover,  his  nature  was  not  narrow  enough 
to  be  lightly  jealous.  But  now  new  thoughts  had  entered  his 
mind — thoughts  of  apprehension  and  dismay — thoughts  which 
led  him  to  consider  whether  it  was  not  a  duty,  somehow,  to  put 
Marian  on  her  guard,  even  if  apprehension  should  prove  to  be 
groundless.  Even  the  wisest  may  sometimes  be  misled,  and 
perhaps  both  the  young  girl  and  Hugh  were  going  idly  astray. 
merely  for  the  want  of  some  friendly  and  judicious  warning. 
That  such  a  warning  would  be  given,  if  given  at  all.  in  the  in 
terest  of  his  own  even  to  himself  scarce  half-avowed  hopes, 
Luke  was  well  aware  ;  but  he  was  too  unsophisticated  to  think 
of  hesitating  in  what  he  once  believed  to  be  a  duty,  simply  be 
cause  of  the  risk  of  misconstruction. 

Whether  Mr.  Pangburn  had  contemplated  such  a  result  as  the 
product  of  his  invidious  suggestions  ;  whether  he  was  impelled 
by  curiosity,  mere  idle  malice,  or  real  dislike  of  the  cool  and  dis 
tant  manner  therewith  Gifford  always  had  treated  him ;  or 
whether  he  was  merely  animated  by  the  wish  to  pursue  his 
studies  in  human  nature,  certain  it  is  that  his  words  had  pro 
duced  considerable  effect  upon  the  mind  of  Luke  Armstrong  ; 
sufficient,  at  all  events,  to  hasten  an  explanation  which  that 
young  man  had  often  longingly  contemplated,  but  which  ap 
peared  to  have  required  some  extraordinary  stimulus  before  it 
could  be  brought  about. 

While  this  scene  was  passing  between  Luke  and  Zelotes,  the 
letters  which  had  arrived  furnished  occasion  for  an  important 
explanation  between  Marian  and  Gifford.  She  had  often  said 
that  her  stay  on  the  Bar  would  only  last  until  midsummer — a 
period  which  she  had  fixed  as  likely  to  bring  information  which 
would  seriously  affect  her  whole  future  prospects.  When 
Marian  first  sought  the  protection  of  Seth  Armstrong,  her  para 
mount  impulse  was  to  fly — to  find  safety  wherever  it  might  be ; 
and  her  idea  of  sustaining  herself  as  a  teacher  or  governess  oc 
curred  very  naturally  afterwards.  But  at  that  time,  in  the  absence 
of  families,  and  in  the  heat  and  hurry  of  the  race  for  lucre, 
there  seemed  little  or  no  demand  for  such  services  as  she  could 
afford,  and  such  attempts  as  she  had  made  by  advertising  in  the 
San  Francisco  newspapers  had  hitherto  proved  unavailing.  On 


146  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

this  the  Armstrongs  had  pressed  Marian  to  remain  permanently 
among  them,  and  she  had  so  fir  consented  as  to  agree  to  stay 
until  midsummer — a  consent,  however,  which  was  based  on  a 
step  which  she  had  previously  resolved  to  take.  In  the  hurry 
of  her  flight  she  had  scarcely  thought  of  a  person  to  whom  her 
thoughts  were  now  directed  as  to  one  who  might  naturally  be 
her  counsel  and  guide :  this  was  a  very  old  friend  of  her  father's, 
a  man  somewhat  his  senior,  long  settled  as  a  lawyer  at  New 
Orleans  This  gentleman  usually  spent  the  summer  at  the 
North,  and,  knowing  the  address  of  his  agent  at  New  York, 
Marian  had  now  written  to  him  describing  her  situation,  and 
soliciting  his  help  to  put  her  in  a  way  to  earn  her  bread  some 
where  in  the  Northern  States.  To  this  letter  Luke  had  now 
handed  her  a  reply.  It  was  from  the  agent  in  question,  and 
stated  that  Mr.  Rivingstone  had  sailed  for  Europe  some  months 
before,  to  be  absent  for  two  years ;  but  that  the  letter  of  Miss 
Rooke  had  been  forwarded,  and  would  be  certain  to  reach  him 
in  due  course.  Such  was  the  explanation  which  Marian  now 
made  to  Giftbrd,  adding  thereto  a  statement  of  her  resolution 
not  to  outstay  the  time  originally  fixed  for  her  departure,  but  to 
set  out  at  furthest  by  the  middle  of  July  to  seek  employment  at 
San  Francisco.  • 


CHAPTER  X. 

GOLD-GETTING  was  the  vital  action  of  the  drama,  the  bright 
finale  to  every  dream  of  the  little  world  at  Armstrong's  Bar; 
but,  like  the  drama  and  the  dream  of  the  Midsummer  Night,  it 
included  several  actions,  and  linked  together  many  and  conflict 
ing  aspirations.  All  worked  regularly  and  zealously  enough  for 
the  common  end;  but  their  days  were  not  all  of  quietness,  nor 
were  all  their  paths  of  peace.  There  were  at  intervals  dire  con 
flicts  touching  matters  of  polity  and  society  between  Dr.  Lan- 
dalc  and  Mr.  Pangburn — two  opposing  stars  who  could  not  be 
in  the  same  sphere  without  many  a  perturbation  and  ominous 
collision.  In  such  encounters  the  Doctor  must  be  adjudged  to 
have  had  the  best  of  it  so  far  as  scientific,  statistical,  and  juris- 
prudential  knowledge  were  concerned ;  but  even  such  consider 
able  advantages  did  not  always,  in  the  general  esteem,  secure  a 
conclusive  victory  against  the  soaring  eloquence  and  blistering 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  147 

sarcasm  of  his  opponent.  The  latter,  as  might  occasionally  have 
been  gathered  from  his  ordinary  discourse,  had  been  enabled  by 
somo  dramatic  experience  to  make  up  after  a  fashion  his  general 
cloudiness  on  other  subjects  of  polite  letters.  By  some  mys 
terious  chance  in  his  erratic  career  he  had  been  for  a  short  time 
a  theatrical  critic  or  reporter  for  a  western  newspaper ;  and  hav 
ing  naturally  a  retentive  memory,  and  an  imagination  readily 
impressed  by  the  swelling  diction  of  the  class  of  plays  most 
favored  of  occidental  taste,  he  frequently  drew  upon  this  resource 
to  eke  out  his  own  flowery  periods.  This,  indeed,  with  a  certain 
rough  facility  in  catching  fragments  of  popular  verse,  and  in 
using  the  extraordinary  slang  so  current  with  the  inferior  press 
— the  hackneyed  commonplaces  about  political  subjects  which 
rest  upon  the  ear,  and  not  upon  the  sense — his  familiarity  witli 
a  certain  oratorical  class-book  known  as  "The  American 
Speaker,"  together  with  his  close  acquaintance  with  the  world 
as  he  had  seen  it,  constituted  the  sum  total  of  the  weapons  in 
Mr.  Pangburivs  intellectual  armory ;  but  it  could  not  fairly  be 
denied  that  he  used  them  with  adroitness  and  effect.  The  Doc 
tor,  who,  like  many  of  his  countrymen,  exhibited  an  odd  union 
of  crabbedness  and  good-nature,  often  found  his  adversary  so 
interesting  as  a  psychological  study  as  to  quite  disarm  his  ani 
mosity — a  result  which  Zelotes  very  promptly  and  very  naturally 
would  attribute  to  his  own  controversial  superiority. 

"I  kerry  too  many  guns,"  he  asserted,  with  his  derisive  leer ; 
';  I  kerry  too  many  guns  for  any  o'  these  'ere  Britishers  to  stand 
afore.  I  jest  pint  'em,  I  do,  and  tech  'em  off,  loaded  to  the 
muzzle  with  the  principles  of  our  glorious  constitution  rammed 
daown  with  the  pole  of  liberty ;  and  afore  the  smoke  hists.  the 
bloated  advocates  of  tyranny  has  left,  and  kin  be  heerd  of  from 
up  a  tree.  Sic  semper  aristcrcrats  !  is  the  sentiments  of  Z.  Pang- 
burn,  and  the  more  they  hcv'  to  do  with  him  the  sicker  they'll 
be." 

"  Stuff  and  nonsense,"  growled  the  Doctor.  "  You  Yankees 
will  never  learn  that  your  constitution  owes  all  that  is  good  in 
it,  and  your  country  too,  to  the  mother-land.  As  to  the  rebel 
lion,  it  was  an  English  rebellion  against  an  un-English  princi- 
ciple.  Because  George  the  Third  and  his  ministers  violated  the 
principle  of  their  own  country — no  taxation  without  represent 
ation — and  your  ancestors  fought  for  and  vindicated  that  prin 
ciple,  you  think  your  constitution  and  your  government,  both 
copied  from  the  old  models,  are  antagonistic  to  the  English 
ones.  Trash,  sir,  which  every  Yankee  schoolboy  ought  to  see 
through,  and  would,  if  you  didn't  fence  them  in  and  shut  out 


148  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

the  light  by  mountains  of  twaddle  about  tyranny  and  liberty, 
and  rotten  old  despotisms,  and  the  like.  Let  them  read  Chat 
ham's  speeches,  or  even  Burgoyne's,  for  that  matter,  when  he 
came  to  seek  laurels  in  the  forum  he  had  lost  in  the  field,  and 
learn  a  bit  of  sense  on  the  other  side." 

"  There  ain't  no  sense,"  retorted  Zelotes,  "  nor  yit  no  justice 
to  be  got  out  o'  the  minions  of  despots  ;  and,  as  to  our  consti 
tution,  it  was  made  up  bran  new  and  slick  to  order  by  T.  Jeffer 
son  and  A.  Hamilton.  If  there's  been  any  hookin'  of  idees,  it's 
been  on  your  side,  'cause  a  selfish  and  corrupt  aristocracy  got 
skeered  by  the  fierce  haowls  of  a  daown-troddcn  people.  We 
air  a  curus  people,  and  our  idees  is  all  of  hum  manutactur'.  We 
air  strong  and  vigorous,  and  we  call  no  man  master.  We  are 
young,  but  peert ;  and  we  don't  go  hautboying  about  for  other 
folks'  notions,  when  we  kin  git  'em,  as  easy  as  rollin'  off  a  log, 
out  o'  the  mint  and  coinage  of  our  brains." 

"  There's  nothing  in  your  laws,  your  government;  or  your 
constitution,"  said  the  Doctor,  stubbornly,  "which  is  worth  a 
fig  for  the  happiness  of  mankind  that  Englishmen  did  not  make 
perfect,  assert,  fight  for,  and  die  for,  before  Jefferson  or  Hamil 
ton  were  born.  And  as  for  your  youth,  if  there's  any  merit  in 
it,  you  are  as  old  a  nation  as  the  English,  if  not  as  old  in  Amer 
ica  as  they  are  in  England.  Crossing  the  ocean  doesn't  make  a 
man  younger,  neither  does  it  a  people."  * 

"  It  makes  him  spryer  and  'cuter,"  contended  Mr.  Pangburn, 
' l  and  shows  him  a  heap  o'  tilings  he  never  heerd  of,  and  giner- 
ally  enlarges  the  field  of  his  intellectooal  vision.  It  teaches  him 
to  shake  off  them  'ere  degradin'  superstitions  and  worm-eaten 
customs  of  the  old  world,  which  priests  and  lords  air  tryin'  to 
keep  a  goin',  so's  to  save  their  hides  and  plunder,  long  arter  the 
spirit  of  the  age  has  called  with  a  loud  voice  that  it  was  time 
they  went  under.  It  teaches  him  that  all  mankind  are  equal  by 
nateral  right,  and  that  distinctions  that  makes  'em  different  is 
the  unilateral  humbug  of  them  that  wants  to  set  themselves  up 
above  their  feller  critters.  It  teaches  him  that  we  air  the  Ark 
of  Safety,  the  Hum  of  Freedom,  and  the  Haven  of  the  Op-  • 
pressed.' 

"  There's  good  here,  certainly,"  went  on  the  Doctor,  "  as 
well  as  bad.  But  the  good  is  nearly  all  English,  and  the  bad 
you've  invented  among  yourselves.  There's  no  particular  merit 
in  developing  the  resources  of  a  vast  rich  country — resources 


•The  Doctor  had,  apparently,  read  Mr.  Lander's  "Imaginary  Conversations." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  149 

which  would  almost  develop  themselves ;  and  you've  no  right 
to  credit  for  greatness  of  national  character  until  the  nation  has 
been  exposed  to  and  has  resisted  temptation  ;  until  she's  made 
sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  right  and  a  pure  reputation,  which 
prove  the  capacity  and  hi^h-mindedness  of  her  people.  For  all 
•your  good  cause,  the  military  strength  of  England  would  have 
overwhelmed  you,  had  she  not  been  set  upon  at  the  same  time 
by  nearly  every  nation  in  Christendom.  The  matter  was  well 
managed,  but  you  wouldn't  have  carried  the  point  single-handed. 
America  had  then,  as  she  has  had  always,  prodigious  good  luck, 
and  her  sons  have  gone  about  the  world  ever  since  praising 
themselves  for  a  result  for  which  they  ought  to  give  at  least 
equal  credit  to  Fortune." 

"  We  don't  give  no  credick  to  nobody,"  demurred  Zelotes, 
"  nor  nuthin'  else,  where  we  don't  git  nuthin'  in  return.  We 
air  the  architecks  of  our  own  fortin',  we  air,  and  we  don't  want 
nobody  to  teach  us  how  to  build.  And  as  to  other  nations,  we 
kin  lick  youv'n  and  them  too,  and  we  ain't  over  pettikilar  when 
we  begin.  We've  done  it  twice,  and  we  kin  do  it  agin." 

"  You'd  better  not  try  it,"  quoth  the  Doctor,  waxing  wroth ;  "  at 
least  not  when  we're  not  fighting  half  the  world  beside.  But  I 
dare  say  you  Yankees  will  be  shrewd  enough  to  pick  your  time." 

"  We  do  everythink  on  business  principles,"  exclaimed  Mr 
Pangburn,  winking  and  grinning  with  sardonic  joy  at  the  oth 
er's  anger.  '•  If  we  kin  bring  both  arms  ageu'  your  one,  we'll  do 
it,  sure  enough  ;  but  then  it  is  our  praoud  boast  that  we  kin  lick 
ye  with  one  hand  all  the  same.  The  Stars  and  Stripes  is  good 
agen'  the  world,  they  air  ;  and  they  kiver  twenty-five  millions  of 
freemen." 

"  And  how  many  slaves  ?  How  many  stripes  cover  them  ? 
If  your  system  were  far  better,  far  more  enlightening  than  it  is, 
those  poor  creatures'  wrongs  would  suffice  to  darken  it." 

"Darken  it  ?  Darken  that  air  banner  7  Do  the  spots  darken 
the  sun  ?  Does  a  shootin'  star  spile  the  glory  of  the  skies  ? 
Does  a  black  sheep  set  back  a  hull  flock  any '?  I  reckon  not. 
Who  fetched  the  niggers  here  ?  Xo  Yankee  or  Yankee  gov- 
k eminent,  was  it  ?  '  Think  on  my  chains  ?  How  came  they  on 
me?'  'Beware  my  vengeance!'  'Kin  it  more  than  kill?' 
*  And  is  not  that  enough  T  '  Xo,  not  enough ;  it  cannot  take 
away  the  grace  of  life,  the  comeliness  of  look  which  virtue  gives  ; 
it  cannot  lay  its  hand  on  these  no  more  than  it  kin  shoot  agen' 
the  sun!'  "* 

•Excerpt  from  Sheridan  Knowles's  "William  Tell." 


i--U                                HAITIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 
UI  don't  see  the  force  of  the  argu " 

"  '  When  Freedom  from  her  mounting  height 
Unfurled  her  standard  to  the  air, 
She  tore  the  azoor  robe  of  night, 
And  set  the  stars  of  glory  there.' 

"That's  so  !" 

"  But  permit  me  to  say " 

"  '  There's  a  fierce  gray  bird  with  a  bendin'  beak, 
W  ith  an  angry,  eye  and  a  startlin'  shriek, 
That  nurses  her  brood  where  the  cliff  flowers  blow 
On  the  precipice  top  in  perpetooal  snow.' 

"That  air  a  fact  I" 

"But  slavery  surely  is " 

"  '  Stand  !  the  ground's  yer  own,  mer  braves  ! 
Will  ye  give  it  up  to  slaves  ?' 

" a  grievous  wrong  and  an  infamous   disgrace.     A  stain 

which,  until  wiped  out,  will  always  disgrace  your  flag  " 

"  '  Nail  to  the  mast  that  tattered  flag, 

Set  every  threadbare  sail, 
And  give  her  to  the  god  of  storms, 
The  lightnin'  and  the  gale  !'" 

At  some  such  point  as  this  the  Doctor  would  usually  give  up 
the  argument,  and  the  scene  would  conclude  with  a  grand  stump- 
speech  from  the  florid  Pangburn,  by  this  time  in  a  high  state  of 
patriotic  fervor  and  poetic  exaltation.  It  was  not  remarkable 
that  so  ingenious  a  politician  should  always  adopt  the  plan  sug 
gested  in  the  foregoing  colloquy  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  plan  of  be 
coming  lofty  and  obscure,  not  to  say  inconsequential,  on  getting 
into  logical  difficulties,  or  on  being  confronted  with  arguments  he 
was  unable  or  unwilling  to  refute.  "The  man's  mad,"  the  Doc 
tor  confidently  assured  me,  "  stark  staring  mad,  and  not  worth 
talking  to  at  all  except  in  a  professional  way,  to  watch  the  pro 
gress  of  the  disease.  Your  half-educated  Yankee  is  the  most  im 
practicable  of  animals  for  believing  in  nothing  he  can't  see,  and 
trusting  in  nothing  he  doesn't  understand.  Look  at  that  man, 
Ilailes  ;  I  firmly  believe  he  thought  my  theodolite  was  a  toy, 
until  he  saw  we  really  got  with  it  the  difference  t>f  level  between 
the  river  and  the  canon.  That  was  something  tangible,  and  I 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  151 

think  you  might  now  persuade  him  that  the  instrument  could 
throw  a  cannon  ball  to  the  moon.  This  Editor  of  ours,  with  his 
Clarion  and  his  Bedlamite  spouting,  is  quite  persuaded  his  coun 
try  could  take  the  whole  world  in  hand  to-morrow,  and  parcel  it 
out  like  another  Roman  Empire.  Luck  and  security,  sir.  will  be 
the  ruin  of  your  people  if  they  don't  have  some  big,  bouncing 
piece  of  misfortune  to  teach  them  common  sense." 

As  I  was  of  much  the  same  way  of  thinking,  the  Doctor  and  I 
did  not  quarrel,  although  I  had  the  pleasure  of  assisting  at  seve 
ral  of  his  encounters  with  his  eccentric  opponent.  It  may  be 
well,  before  proceeding  further,  to  explain  how  it  was  that  I  be 
came  personally  interested  in  the  diggings  on  Armstrong's  Bar. 
The  original  object  of  my  coming  has  been  before  mentioned  as 
being  that  of  determining  the  proper  bounds  and  metes  of  a 
large  tract  of  land,  claimed  under  an  ancient  Spanish  deed, 
whose  holders  had  deputed  me  to  act  in  then-  behalf.  The  data 
in  my  possession  were  such  as  to  satisfy  me  very  early  respect 
ing  the  extent  of  at  least  one  boundary  of  the  claim.  *This  was 
on  the  river,  and  undoubtedly  included  the  ground  covered  by 
the  little  settlement  as  well  as  then*  newly  discovered  gold-field 
in  the  interior.  In  the  existing  state  of  the  country,  however,  a 
direct  attempt  to  oust  actual  settlers  was  a  critical  and  often  an 
unsuccessful  affair,  and  there  were  certain  moot  points  to  be  re 
solved  as  to  title,  which  would  make  such  an  attempt  a  very  un 
wise  one  in  this  instance.  This  being  the  case,  I  did,  as  I  thought, 
the  safest  thing  for  my  principals,  by  first  exhibiting  the  strength 
of  their  claim  to  the  Armstrong  company,  and  subsequently  en 
tering  into  an  agreement  with  them  to  forego  any  proceeding  for 
the  space  of  one  year,  subject  to  renewal,  and  without  prejudice 
to  the  real  or  supposed  rights  of  either  party,  on  condition  of  re 
ceiving  a  clear  eighth  of  the  gold  they  might  gain  from  the  soil. 
It  was  not  without  some  discussion  that  this  conclusion  was 
reached,  nor  altogether  without  pugnacious  and  litigious  propo 
sitions  on  the  part  of  Pangburn.  But  as  it  was  clear  that  the 
claimants  I  represented  could  put  the  company  to  great  incon 
venience  and  expense,  if  not  force  them  to  desist  working  on  the 
claim  altogether,  prudence  overcame  all  other  emotions,  and  the 
arrangement  proposed  was  quietly  adopted. 


152  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 


CHAPTER  XI. 

IT  was  a  soft,  balmy  evening  in  Jane,  a  ribbon  or  two  of  fad 
ing  fire  in  the  west  showing  where  the  sun  had  gone  down, 
while  in  his  place  the  moon  was  riding  up  the  firmament  in  ma 
jestic  yet  chastened  splendor.  The  day  had  been  hot,  and  a 
light  breeze  which  rustled  about  and  scattered  the  delicate  odor 
of  blossoms  whose  parent  vines  clambered  around  the  cabin,  was 
all  the  more  grateful  for  the  close  air  which  it  disturbed.  The 
same  delicate  odors  which  first  told  me  that  feminine  cares 
must  have  been  busy  here,  still  survived  the  burning  heat  of  the 
sun ;  for  the  river  was  close  by,  and  the  fingers  which  had  planted, 
were  careful  to  sustain  with  daily  refreshment  the  thirsty  stran 
gers  which  otherwise  would  have  drooped  and  withered. 

Several  of  the  party — and  the  Doctor  and  Hugh*Gifford  were 
among  them — had  been  absent  since  early  morning.  They  had 
set  forth  at  daybreak  for  the  saw-mill,  some  thirty  miles  off,  and 
would  return  late  at  night.  Work  had  gone  on  as  usual  in  the 
canon,  and  those  who  remained  behind,  having  finished  their 
labor  and  partaken  of  their  evening  meal,  were  chatting  and 
smoking  and  reckoning  the  gains  of  the  day.  Pretty  Kitty  was 
sitting  at  one  end  of  the  porch  listening — I  fear  hot  unwillingly 
— to  the  uncouth  worshippings  of  Dick  Railes.  Her  mother 
was  sitting  quietly  within,  reading  her  Bible,  the  usual  occupa 
tion  of  her  leisure  moments.  Ichabod  was  employed  in  elaborat 
ing  some  new  ornament  for  his  capricious  head-gear,  and  Lion 
lay  near  by  gazing  with  solemn  intentness  on  the  last  red  coal 
of  the  smouldering  fire. 

As  for  Marian,  she  stood  at  the  door  looking  up  as  intently 
at  the  radiant  heavens,  and  wondering,  as  most  of  us  so  often 
wonder,  whether  those  mysterious  and  innumerable  orbs  could 
be  peopled  by  beings  like  ourselves.  She  was  brought  back  to 
earth  by  a  low,  pleading  voice;  a  voice  which,  notwithstanding 
its  accent,  was  not  without  music ;  a  voice,  however,  which, 
even  had  it  been  dissonant,  might  have  grown  melodious  when 
laden  with  the  fulness  of  the  heart  whence  it  came.  The  words 
were  simple  enough : 

"  You're  not  very  busy,  just  now.  Mary  Anne?" 

"Busy!  No,  indeed,  as  idle  as  indolence  and  this  lovely 
evening  can  make  me." 

"  You  wouldn't  mind"— and  the  voice  was  very  low,  almost 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  153 

cautious — "  you  wouldn't  mind  walking1  a  few  steps  with  me  on 
the  river-bank — where — where  you  often  walk  with  Mr.  Gif- 
ford  P 

<•  Mind,  Luke  ?  Thank  you,  I  shah1  be  glad  of  a  little  stroll. 
Indeed,  I  was  only  thinking  of  going  there  just  now.  It  is  a 
favorite  walk  of  mine." 

'•  I  know  it  is." 

They  walked  gently  down  the  little  lawn  which  trended  to 
the  stream,  and  turned  into  the  path  long  worn  smooth  by  foot 
steps  along  its  bank.  The  water  swam  along  in  flecks  and 
patches  of  black  and  silver  as  the  shadows  fell  or  the  moon 
beams  danced  upon  the  tiny  ripples.  Higher  and  higher  sailed 
the  nioon,  and  her  light  grew  stronger  until  it  seemed  almost 
like  the  light  of  day.  Some-minutes  passed  of  turning  and  re 
turning — for  the  slopes  and  the  shrubbery  made  a  promenade  of 
a  hundred  yards  or  so  most  convenient — and  Luke  spoke  never 
a  word.  In  truth,  the  poor  fellow  felt  that  he  was  somehow  ap 
proaching  the  most  momentous  crisis  of  his  life,  and  even  the 
first  accents  wherein  his  thoughts  should  shape  themselves  into 
expression  became  of  exaggerated  importance.  He  was  natu 
rally  shy,  too,  and  a  nervous  feeling  of  self-depreciation,  a 
keener  than  common  sense  of  his  deficiencies,  crept  over  him 
and  added  to  his  embarrassment.  But  he  had  watched  sedu 
lously  for  this  opportunity — watched  for  it  with  not  arlittle  of  the 
cool,  steadfast  perseverance  of  his  countrymen — and  he  must 
not  let  it  slip  by  unimproved.  The  words  came  at  last,  but  they 
were  slow  and  hesitating  : 

"I  jest  wanted  to  say  a  few  words  to  you,  Maiy  Anne." 

"Yes,  Luke." 

I  wonder  if  any  woman  is  ever  altogether  unconscious  of  the 
admiration  she  excites,  that  is,  supposing  her  to  be  in  daily  con 
tact  with  her  admirer l?  It  is  doubtful ;  but  if  ever  a  woman  was 
so  unconscious,  it  was  Marian  now.  Next  her  heart  she  carried 
a  little  Testament,  which  had  been  some  months  before  the 
means  of  revealing  Luke's  secret  to  Hugh  Gilford.  Others 
might  now  and  then  have  guessed  it,  albeit  for  an  untutored, 
Luke  was  not  a  demonstrative  man.  But  of  all  who  crer  thought 
of  such  a  tiling,  Marian  herself  would  have  been  the  last.  Still, 
when  a  young  man  asks  a  young  woman  to  a  moonlight  walk, 
and,  after  a  preface  of  solemn  silence,  begins  to  unfold  his  mind 
in  terms  such  as  Luke  set  forth  with,  there  are  few  over  whom 
would  not  flash  a  suspicion  of  what  was  to  follow.  Marian  was 
not  of  the  few ;  but  she  did  not  get  her  suspicion  from  what 
she  remembered  of  Luke's  words  and  tones  in  the  past ;  it  was 


154  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;      OR, 

begotten  of  what  she  recalled  of  Hugh  Gifford's  looks  and  tones 
when  they  referred  to  Luke.  As  she  thought  of  these,  came 
another  remark,  or  rather  a  question,  which  seemed  somewhat 
irrelevant : 

"  Mary  Anne,  you're  fond  of  sister  Kitty,  ain't  you?" 

"  What  a  question !  Why,  you  know,  Luke,  she  is  my  sister, 
too.  She  has  been  always  kind,  and  considerate,  and  aifectionate. 
People  who  are  left  alone  appreciate  these  things." 

"Left  alone?" 

"  Without  friends — relatives,  I  mean.  You  know  I  am  quite 
alone  in  the  world." 

"  I  knew  you  had  no  father  or  mother,  Mary  Anne,"  said 
Luke,  gently. 

1 '  Neither  father  nor  mother,  sister  nor  brother ;  so  that  I 
think  much  of  those  who  have  made  me  half  forget  my  loneli 
ness.  Of  course  I'm  fond  of  Kitty.  But  then  she  is  a  good 
girl  besides — a  good  daughter,  dutiful -and  obedient — a  girl  of  a 
frank,  cordial  nature,  which  would  make  me  love  her  for  herself, 
even  if  she  had  not  been  so  very  kind  to  me." 

"  Then  I  s'pose,  Mary  Anne,  if  you  saw  Kitty  in  any  kind  of 
trouble,  in  any  kind  of  clanger,  you'd  try  to  help — to  save 
her  ?" 

"To  be  sure  I  should." 

"If  you  saw  her  wanderin'  along  a  bank  all  covered  with 
things  that  was  bright  and  beautiful — nice  trees,  and  sparklin' 
brooks,  and  tumblin'  waterfalls,  fall  of  singing  birds  and  sweet 
smelling  flowers,  a  place  where  she  seemed  to  be  happy  as  the 
day  is  long — you'd  think  it  was  kind  o'  sinful  to  disturb  her 
there,  wouldn't  you  ?" 

"  And  so  it  would  be,"  acquiesced  the  girl,  half  smiling  at 
Luke's  unwonted  poetry. 

"  But  if  you  knew  that  over  agen'  the  bank — always  yawnin', 
always  threatening  ready  at  any  moment  to  swallow  her  up  and 
destroy  her,  whenever  chance  or  temptation  should  git  her  to 
make  a  single  false  step — if  you  knew  that  right  agen'  the  bank 
was  a  deep,  black,  horrid  precipice,  which,  if  she  went  over  it, 
would  crush  her,  ruin  her  for  ever,  now  and  hereafter— then 
you'd  think  you'd  oughter  take  the  risk  of  givin'  her  pain  to 
save  the  greater  risk  of  her  destruction,  wouldn't  you,  Mary 
Anne  ?" 

"I  should.  I  suppose  most  of  us  are  at  some  time  or 
another  placed  in  a  position  where  duty  requires  us  to  make 
such  a  choice.  But  this  is  mere  laughing,  surely.  Dear  Kitty 
can  be  in  no  such  straits.  You  surely  do  not  mean " 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  155 

"  I  don't  mean  that  Kitty  is  in  any  danger.  \Y~hat  I  meant 
was  only  in  example-like — allygurry — what  mother  is  so  often 
quoting  from  Scriptur',  takin'  one  person's  case  to  tiy  on  to 
another." 

•  •  And  which  of  our  little  company  is  in  a  plight  so  critical  '?" 
"I  don't  know  for  certain  as  any  one  is;    but  if  I  think 

"  If  you  think  so,  you  would  say,  you  ought  to  put  them  on 
their  guard  T' 

'•  That  is  jest  what  I  Avould  say." 

••And  I  quite  agree  with  you." 

"You  do?" 

'•Perfectly." 

' '  But  it  ain't  always  easy  to  do  such  a  tiling.  Even  the 
kindest  folks  are  sometimes  hurt  if  one  seems  to  meddle  too 
much  with  their  private  affairs.  It's  hard  to  run  the  chance  ot 
hurtin'  anybody's  feelin's." 

•'  Xo  sensible  person  would  be  displeased  at  what  must  cer 
tainly  be  seen  to  be  kindly  meant.  It  would  be  a  duty  to  incur 
such  a  risk  as  well  as  the  other." 

••  You  think  so  ?'' 

"  Unquestionably." 

"  I  don't  want  to  shrink  from  doin'  a  duty;  and  I  think  I'll 
hey'  to  do  it." 

"There  is,  then,  a  person  here  in  the  position  you  describe?" 

"I  said  I  only  thought  so,  Mary  Anne;  and  you  said,  if  I 
thought  so,  I'd  ought  to  put  'em  on  their  guard." 

"Well?" 

"And  I  thought  as  much  before;  only  I  was  glad  to  hear 
you  say  so,  because  the  person •" 

'•  Stop  a  moment,  Luke.  It  may  be  quite  correct  that  you 
should  warn  the  person  most  interested,  but  it  might  not  be  al 
together  right  that  you  should  previously  intrust  the  secret  to 
another  ;  you  might  be  mistaken,  and •" 

"That's  jest  what  I  thought,  that's  jest  what  I  hoped,  Mary 
Anne  ;  and  that's  the  reason  why  I  spoke  first  about  it  to  you. 
Heaven  knows  if  I  was  mistaken  how  happy  'twould  make  me  !" 

"  But  how  can  I  tell  ?" 

"  That's  jest  it,  Mary  Anne ;  you  are  the  only  one  who  can 
tell." 

'•  The  only  one  who  can  tell!" 

"Yes ;  because  this  loved  one  wanderin'  on  the  bank,  this  un- 
suspectin'  one  who's  yit  in  such  dreadful  peril — as  I  think, 
mind — is " 


156  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"  Well,  this  person  is " 

"This  person  is  ?/cw,  Mary  Anne." 

"Me!"  cried  Marian,  in  astonishmen.. 

It  had  been  very,  very  difficult  for  Luke  to  get  thus  far.  The 
separate  clauses  of  the  little  artifice,  whereby  he  had  led  up  to 
the  critical  accusation,  had  cost  him  a  world  of  doubt,  bewilder 
ment,  and  embarrassment.  But  having  accomplished  this  deli 
cate  step — having  crossed  his  Rubicon — he  cast  restraint  to  the 
winds,  and  said  what  he  had  to  say  with  all  the  blunt  manliness 
of  which  he  was  capable  : 

"  I  know  there  weren't  a  soul  of  us  who  crossed  the  plains  fit 
for  you  to  associate  with  except  Hugh  Gifford ;  I  know  he's 
eddicated  and  refined,  and  full  of  book  learnin',  and  that  you 
weren't  brought  up  to  mix  with  poor  farmin'  folks  like  us.  You 
was  always  thoughtful,  and  too  good  to  let  any  one  see  you 
know'd  such  a  thing ;  but  it's  true  for  all  that.  And  I  know 
that  Mr.  Gifford' s  got  a  gift  of  talk,  and,  when  he  likes,  he  can 
carry  you  away  with  him  to  Chiny,  or  to  Europe,  and  put  you 
in  all  kinds  of  beautiful  places,  and  hang  'em  round  with  all 
manner  of  enticin'  and  lovely  colors  !  It  was  nateral  you'd  like 
his  company,  and  that  he'd  like  yourn  But  don't  be  angry, 
Mary  Anne,  if  I  say  there  might  be  danger  both  of  you  might 
learn  to  like  it  too  well,  when  it's  remembered  he's  an  engaged 
man !  There  might  be  danger  both  of  you  would  forget  this, 
and  both  be  sorry  for  it  ever  after  !  Don't  be  hurt  if  I  thought 
this  was  a  precipice  you  might  fall  into  ;  you  have  said  yourself, 
you  know,  that  no  one  could  be  displeased  at  what  must  be  seen 
to  be  kindly  meant !" 

Marian  was  taken  very  much  by  surprise.  Her  bosom  heaved, 
and  the  rich  color  came  and  went  in  her  face  in  a  manner  visi 
ble  even  by  the  moonlight — in  a  manner  which,  to  some,  would 
have  been  conclusive  evidence  of  deeper  feeling  than  even  the 
speaker's  words  would  seem  to  imply.  She  was  taken  by  sur 
prise,  and,  as  people  often  do  in  such  cases,  she  spoke,  when  a 
pause  occurred,  in  a  mechanical  sort  of  way,  her  thoughts  the 
while  busy  within,  her  voice  somewhat  changed,  and  her  face 
somewhat  averted : 

"Mr.  Gifford  and  I  are  good  friends — no  more.  You  mean 
kindly,  Luke,  and  I  am  not  displeased.  But  it  seems  strange 
that  neither  your  mother  nor  your  sister  should  ever  have  alluded 
to  a  subject  which,  if  it  were  so  marked  and  obvious,  women 
are  usually  first  to  mention." 

"  Ah,  they  could  not  see  with  my  eyes  !" 

*'  With  your  eyes,  Luke  1" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  157 

"  No  ;  I  can't  keep  back  the  words,  if  I  choke  in  speaking 
them.  They  couldn't  see  with  my  eyes,  Mary  Anne ;  how 
should  they  •?  They  were  fond  of  you.  and  glad  to  see  you 
pleased  and  happy,  and  there  an  end.  But  I — I — loi'cd  you; 
and  where  they  had  no  thought  of  danger  I  could  see  a  hundred. 
I  know,  I'm  sure,  you  can  t,  with  your  self-respect  and  your 
learnin',  go  to  fall  in  love  with  a  man  that's  engaged!  Why, 
he's  the  same  as  married  !  Wuss,  perhaps,  for  they  say  the  first 
bloom  of  love  is  what  is  most  wicked  to  steal.  P'raps  that's  what 
makes  me  feel  as  I  do  feel.  Surely  one  woman's  enough  for  one 
man!  We're  not  livin'  among  the  Mormons,  and " 

"Luke!" 

"  Forgive  me  1  Think  it  unsaid,  Mary  Anne,  for  I  know  I 
had  no  right  to  say  it.  For  you've  told  me,  haven't  you,  that 
Mr.  Gifford  and  you  are  good  friends  and  nothin'  more  !  That's 
all  I  want  to  know — inore'n  I  had  a  right  to  ask.  See,  Mary 
Anne.  I  know  I'm  dreadful  low  and  mean,  compared  with 
what  you  are  !  I  know  I  ain't  worthy  of  you.  But  I  couldn't 
live  nigh  you.  not  within  sound  of  your  voice,  without  bein'  a 
better  man  ;  I'm  better  for  it  even  now.  We're  gettin'  richer, 
you  know,  Mary  Anne  ;  and  we'll  soon  have  a  better  house,  and 
p'raps  a  piano  and  books,  and  you  know  you  love  this  place  I 
And  you  have  neither  father  nor  mother,  nor  sister  nor  brother, 
and  you  can  hav«  'em  all  here — all,  if  you'll  only  say  that  you'll 
let  us  love  and  cherish  you." 

"Luke,"  said  Marian,  in  slow,  measured,  but  sorrowful  ac 
cents,  "  Luke — good,  kind  Luke,  forget  all  that  you  have  said 
to  me  this  night.  As  to  Mr.  Gifford,  I  thought  you  knew,  as 
your  father  and  mother  know,  that  I  am  going — going,  almost 
directly,  far  away.  It  was  never  intended,  you  know,  never 
proposed,  that  I  should  stay  here  always  ;  only  until  other  ar 
rangements  were  made.  Those  other  arrangements  are  made. 
I  depart,  therefore,  now — almost  immediately." 

"  If  you  knew  how  I'd  work — if  you  knew  how  I'd  slave — 
to  please  you,  to  make  you  happy  ;  if  you  would  only  try — I 
know  well  you  don't  love  me  now,  but  oh  !  don't,  don't  throw 
away  the  chance  of  a  happy  life — don't,  I  pray,  I  beseech  you — 
without  at  least  thinldn'  over  it  a  little  ;  don't  do  what  '11  make 
me  so,  so  very  wretched  !" 

He  turned  his  handsome,  sunny  face  toward  Marian  as  he 
spoke,  and  she  saw  in  the  bright  light  how  deep  was  the  mean 
ing  of  his  words.  The  face  was  sunny  no  longer  though,  but 
very  pale,  the  mouth  was  set,  and  the  eyes  were  brimming  with 
tears. 

7* 


158 

"  I  must  hare  been  wrong,"  said  Marian  painfully,  "  wrong 
not  to  have  seen  or  guessed  something  of  this  before.  Indeed, 
indeed,  Luke,  what  you  propose  can  never  be*  If  you  would 
have  me  feel  kindly  towards  you — if  you  would  not  drive  me 
away  from  this  roof,  prematurely,  in  sorrow  and  in  pain,  never 
again  speak  to  me  of  this  subject.  I  feel  grateful— nay,  more,  I 
feel  affectionate  towards  you  for  all  your  kindness,  for  even  the 
service  you  thought  to  render  me  to-night ;  but  you  must  not — 
indeed  you  must  not — ask  mOre.  As  to  the  differences  you 
speak  of,  they  are  nothing  ;  but  of  love,  such  love  as  you  would 
seek,  I  have  none — none  to  bestow.  Won't  you  let  things  go 
on  in  the  same  old  way,  Luke  ?.  Won't  you  let  me  think  of  you 
still  as  a  brother1?" 

He  turned  away  from  her  as  she  ended,  and  the  two  walked 
up  and  down  the  river  path  several  times  in  silence.  Marian 
saw  that  Luke  was  struggling  manfully  with  himself,  and  she 
said  no  more  until  he  found  words  to  reply  : 

"  lie  is — will  be — no  more  than  a  good  friend  to  you?" 
"  No  more  !     He  is  no  more — no  more  can  he  ever  be  I" 
She  held  forth  her  hand  as  she  spoke,  as  if  to  close  the  con 
versation  with  such  a  sign  of  friendship  and  of  confidence ;  and 
Luke,  bending  low  over  her  hand,  for  the  first  time  kissed  it ; 
and  he  left,  for  the  kiss  he  took,  the  first  tears  he  had  shed  since 
he  was  a  little  child. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  weeks  were  flying  swiftly  by,  and  every  one  brought  its 
share  of  the  yellow  earth  all  were  striving  for.  Each  Saturday 
night,  when  they  came  together  and  unlocked  and  augmented 
their  treasure,  the  miners  of  Armstrong's  Bar  saw  themselves 
growing  richer  and  richer,  while  their  fears  of  the  canon  "  giving 
out"  grew  more  and  more  remote  and  feeble.  There  was  talk 
now  oi*  building  another  flume,  but  stories  were  rife  of  diggings 
like  these  running  short  in  the  most  sudden  and  mysterious  man 
ner,  and  the  prudent  plan  of  letting  well  enough  alone  was 
wisely  adhered  to. 

It  is  a  strange  circumstance,  which  those  who  have  been  in 
the  golden  lands  will  readily  verify,  that,  although  time  seems 
to  fly  so  swiftly  in  them,  it  always  appears  long  in  the  retrospect. 
The  excitement  of  unwonted  gains,  the  novelty  of  the  scenery, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE. 


159 


the  perpetual  bustle,  the  omnipresence  of  that  rosy,  alluring 
figure  of  hope,  make  the  hours  glide  fast  no  doubt;  but  why, 
\vhen  past,  should  they  appear  so  long?  Perhaps  it  is  that  the 
wealth  procured  is"  compared  instinctively  with  the  space  con 
sumed  in  its  acquisition,  and,  reasoning  from  previous  experi 
ence,  the  mind  extends  that  space  to  make  it  consistent  with 
the  parallels  suggested  by  memory.  "When  a  man  gets  a  thou 
sand  dollars  in  a  week  who  never  before  earned  more  than  that 
sum  in  a  year,  he  naturally  feels  that  more  than  seven  little  days 
must  surely  have  gone  by  in  getting  it. 

With  our  little  party  labor  went  on  steadily,  and  no  mischance 
occurred  to  interrupt  or  diminish  its  income.  There  were  aching 
hearts  on  the  Bar  no  doubt ;  but  then*  pain  did  not  spring  from 
the  absence  of  gold,  nor  did  it  extend  to  the  company  at  large. 
On  the  contrary,  matters  seemed  to  the  others  eminently  buoyant 
and  gay ;  and  never  in  particular  did  Mr.  Pangburn  appear  to 
better  advantage.  He  laughed  and  joked  and  told  grotesque 
Yankee  stories  from  morn  till  dewy  eve.  Nothing  could  exceed 
t*he  good  spirits  which  our  golden  shower  brought  to  the  active 
editor.  He  even  made  friends  with  Ike  and  Lion ;  neither  of 
whom  were  swift  in  vouchsafing  their  confidence,  and  who  had 
regarded  Zelotes  with  protracted  suspicion.  For  my  part  I 
must  say,  in  all  honesty,  that  I  never  saw  any  one  bear  pros 
perity  so  well.  Some  are  made  crusty,  presuming,  unsocial  by 
the  gifts  of  fortune;  but  the  reverse  was  distinctly  then*  effect 
upon  the  eccentric  nature  of  Pangburn. 

The  sweet  breath  of  Spring  had  come  and  gone,  the  brightly 
beautiful  June — a  month  so  charming  here — had  been  enjoyed, 
and  had  likewise  fled,  and  we  were  far  into  July.  It  was  well 
for  us  we  were  so  near  a  stream,  for  the  season,  always  dry.  pro 
mised  this  summer  to  be  parching  in  the  extreme.  The  rains 
which  had  been  so  bountiful  were  sucked  from  the  soil  by  the 
thirsty  sun ;  the  rivers  slowly  narrowed  until  there  was  scarcely 
water  even  in  the  mountain  springs  to  feed  their  sluggish  course. 
Our  works,  however,  stood  us  in  good  stead ;  our  supply  of  the 
precious  fluid  was  exceptionally  abundant ;  and  we  could  look 
forward  to  the  droughts  of  August  and  September  without  dis 
may,  for  the  doctor  had  invented  and  perfected  an  ingenious 
system  of  force  pumps,  which  promised  to  keep  the  flume  run 
ning  when  all  other  devices  might  haply  fail. 

Marian  was  subjected  to  a  heavy  cross  fire  of  entreaties  to 
rescind  her  determination  as  the  time  fixed  for  her  departure 
drew  near.  Luke  said  no  more,  for  he  had  passed  his  word ; 
yet  there  was  now  and  then  a  pleading  look  in  his  saddened  blue 


160  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

eyes,  which  told  quite  as  much  as  his  tongue  could  have  possibly 
uttered.  But  his  father,  mother  and  sister  were  by  no  means 
silent,  for  they  plied  the  poor  girl  ceaselessly  with  objections  to 
her  going,  and  affectionate  persuasions  that 'she  should  remain. 
Such  a  thing  was,  however,  quite  out  of  the  question.  Marian 
saw  plainly  that  after  making  all  allowance  for  any  peculiar 
animus  in  Luke's  strictures  touching  her  position  with  regard  to 
Gifford,  there  was  a  residum  of  justice  and  propriety  about  them 
which  made  separation  quite  essential  to  her  self-respect.  The 
situation  had  been  a  singular  one,  and,  isolated  as  they  were,  it 
was  easy  to  suggest  excuses  for  educated  people  who  found 
pleasure  in  each  other's  society ;  but  when  once  such  a  thing 
was  marked  enough  to  excite  comment,  it  was  time  to  bring  it 
to  a  close.  When  the  girl  looked  into  her  heart,  too,  and  found 
how  painful  this  impending  close  was  like  to  be,  she  was  more 
than  ever  persuaded  of  its  strict  necessity.  Marian  was  impul 
sive,  truly,  but  her  nature  was  eminently  conscientious.  She 
had  never  yet,  to  her  knowledge,  wronged  man  or  woman ;  and 
she  would  not  begin  by  wronging  Virginia  Chester. 

As  to  Gifford  himself,  he  strove  long  and  earnestly  in  his 
quiet,  stubborn  way,  against  her  departure.  The  idea  of  utter 
separation — a  separation  which  was  almost  certain  to  be  an 
eternal  one — filled  him  with  consternation  and  dismay.  "With 
out  contemplating  any  wrong  to  his  affianced  bride,  he  was  yet 
bitterly  averse  to  being  parted  from  what  was  a  continual  temp 
tation  to  commit  it.  He  knew  very  well  the  force  of  this  temp 
tation  ;  but  he  pushed  it  away  from  his  immediate  thoughts,  and 
wished  to  glide  on  in  the  old  course,  that  the  coming  months 
might  be  similar  to  the  ones  just  passed.  It  is  .needless  to  say 
that  he  was  more  selfish  than  Marian  ;  that  is  obvious  enough ; 
but  his  selfishness  by  no  means  went  the  length  of  dreaming  to 
entrap  her  affections,  situated  as  they  both  were.  He  was  too 
manly  for  that ;  but  he  thought  they  might  continue  in  the  way 
they  had  been  indefinitely,  without  any  assignable  limit,  and 
without  the  intervention  of  any  disagreeable  observation  or  ex 
planation  •  and  seeing  no  reason  for  her  going,  excepting  that 
wThich  she  advanced,  namely,  her  resolve  to  be  independent  and 
at  work,  he  strove  .against  it  by  every  argument  in  his  power. 

And  so  he  might  have  continued  to  strive  but  for  the  altered 
demeanor  of  Luke.  The  alteration  was  not  so  marked  as  to 
excite  any  general  comment ;  but  Gifford  knew  in  his  heart  of 
hearts  that  the  kind-souled  young  rustic  was  Marian's  secret 
worshipper.  When  he  found  Luke's  laugh  was  becoming  less 
frequent — when  he  saw  the  broad  smile  which  formerly  lighted 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  1G1 

Luke's  face  replaced  by  an  expression  of  patient  sorrow,  Hugh 
began  to  ask  himself  mental  questions,  and  was  not  long  in 
guessing  at  something  like  the  truth.  Arrived  at  this,  his  wishes 
experienced  a  radical  change.  He  had  no  right  to  be  jealous, 
and  he  knew  it.  But  he  had  a  strange  dread  of  the  effect  upon 
Marian's  generous  nature,  which  the  sight  of  poor  Luke's  sim 
ple  distress  might  bring  about.  Many  a  woman  before  her  time 
had  been  melted  by  pity  to  concessions  which  would  never  have 
been  wrought  by  love ;  and  Hugh,  with  all  his  faults,  was  not 
coxcomb  enough  to  suspect  that  there  existed  in  himself  an  in 
surmountable  barrier  to  such  a  thing  in  the  present  instance. 

After  awhile,  therefore,  he  ceased  to  oppose  her  departure  ; 
and  even  spoke  of  it  more  than  once  as  a  desirable  and  neces 
sary  step,  in  such  a  way  as  by  no  means  to  please  Marian  her 
self.  She  was  truly  grieved  at  the  idea  of  her  absence  inflicting 
any  pain  upon  Luke  Armstrong  ;  but  she  was  far  from  gratified 
to  be  taught  that  it  could  be  regarded  with  complacency  by 
Hugh  Gifibrd.  Such  an  inconsistency  told  a  tale  unfavorable  to 
her  future  peace,  as  she  well  knew ;  but  absence  feels  and  con 
quers  much,  and  Marian  was  not  yet  old  enough  to  have  learned 
to  distrust  its  efficacy.  She  felt  that  it  was  high  time  she  were 
gone,  and  believed  she  was  glad  that  the  hour  of  departure  was 
so  close  at  hand. 

The  weeks  had  flown  by,  and  the  treasure-chest  had  filled  and 
filled  until  it  now  contained  a  sum  of  more  than  eighty  thousand 
dollars  ;  and  GhTord  had  for  his  share,  as  Marian  reminded  him, 
more  than  the  sum  which  John  Chester  had  named  as,  in  a 
manner,  the  price  of  his  bride.  Each  Saturday  night  the  chest 
had  been  opened,  and  its  contents  exhibited  and  augmented, 
and  it  had  been  resolved  that,  as  soon  as  they  turned  what  Mr. 
Pangburn  called  the  lucky  corner  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
their  hoard  should  be  taken  down  to  San  Francisco,  there  to  be 
deposited  with  some  safe  banking-house.  Indeed,  such  a  step 
might  have  been  most  prudent  before  it  had  increased  to  its 
present  proportions.  But  this  happened  to  be  a  period  when 
many  bankers  had  stopped  payment,  and  general  distrust  pre 
vailed,  even  as  to  making  what  were  called  special  deposits. 
On  the  other  hand,  gold  robberies  had  been  very  few  in  the 
mines.  It  seemed  a  safer  speculation  to  try  and  rifle  the  gener 
ous  earth  than  one's  neighbors  ;  the  former  cost  no  terrors  save 
those  of  hard  work,  while  the  latter  tempted  the  terribly  sum 
mary  ones  of  Judge  Lynch. 

The  Rothschilds  had  lately  sent  an  accredited  agent  to  the 
city,  whose  fame  was  now  reaching  across  the  sea,  and  it  was 


162  MARIAN    ROOKE ;    OR, 

determined  that  the  capital  of  Armstrong's  Bar  might  safely  be 
intrusted  to  Mr.  Davidson. 

<;  Another  sech  week  as  this,"  said  Seth,  one  Saturday  night, 
"  and  we'll  send  the  stuff  down  the  river." 

"  And  another  sech  a  six  months,"  exulted  Mr.  Pangburn, 
"  and  we  kin  see  a  loomin'  up  the  stun  front  block  in  Utiky, 
and  the  cottage  on  the  what's-his-name,  and  book-learnin',  and 
the  v'yage  to  Europe,  and  the  old  farm  at  Saybrook,  and  all  the 
rest  on't ;  includin'  a  wood  roof  instead  of  a  cotting  one,  and 
Miss  Armstrong's  chiny !" 

"  But  I'm  aieard,"  continued  Seth,  "  I'm  afeard  about  bein' 
too  Bsmgmne.  We  air  in  luck,  that's  a  fact ;  but  luck  like  our'n 
is  dreadful  apt  to  break  off  short,  as  suddint  as  it  begun.  This 
week's  been  good,  dreadful  good ;  but  there's  looks  about  the 
canon  which  I've  heerd  old  miners  tell  on,  when  diggin's  is 
nigh  to  giv'  aout." 

"  Show  1"  said  Zelotes,  uneasily.     "  D'ye  think  so,  now?" 

."  Sartain  ;  there's  looks  ;  but  then  agin,  looks  is  jest  as  like 
as  not  to  be  deceivin',  and  we  came  first  to  the  river  bank  in 
stead  of  the  canon." 

"  It's  run  in  my  head  all  along,"  remarked  Dick  Railcs,  "  that 
we'd  struck  the  likeliest  part  o'  the  place  at  the  fust  go  off;  but 
I  didn't  sec  no  call  to  talk  blue  when  we  was  doin'  so  well ;  and 
artcr  the  Doctor's  pintin'  the  th'odolite  up  and  down  the  gulch 
sech  a  heap  o'  times,  I  tho't  it  oughter  fetch  the  gold  there  if 
anything  would." 

u  As  to  that,"  quoth  the  Doctor,  "  levelling  rods  may  be  bet 
ter  than  divining  ones,  but  they  only  teach  us  the  way  to  the 
gold,  not  the  gold  the  way  to  us.  I  think  myself  that  what  we've 
taken  so  far  has  been  in  a  sort  of  pocket,  lower  than  the  bed 
runs  elsewhere.  It  is  quite  likely,  then,  that  the  spot  may  be 
the  richest  in  the  channel ;  but  we  can  only  tell  when  we  try." 

These  prognostications  were  agreeable  to  none,  but  they  ap 
peared  especially  disquieting  to  Mr.  Pangburn.  "  Not,"  he 
said,  "  but  what  it's  easy  enough  to  strike  new  leads  ;  but  when 
I've  put  folks  on  a  good  thing,  I  like  folks  to  find  it  a  good 
thing.  Pangburn's  pride,  if  not  his  honor,  bein'  bound  up  in 
the  issoo,  it  siles  his  dander  to  hev'  it  tech  bottom.  However," 
he  added,  reassuringly,  "  there's  been  some  'cute  things  printed 
lately  in  .the  'Frisky  papers  on  all  these  pints,  gulch,  dry,  sur 
face  diggin',  and  bar,  and  even  'bout  griiidhi'  the  staff  out  o' 
rotten-stun'  ;  which  latter  seems  a  pecrt  style  o'  gold-mining. 
Now  I've  got  to  go  down  Monday  or  Tuesday  to  see  'bout  the 
'  Mounting  Clarion,'  and  stimerlate  Eli  S.  some  ;  and  I  reckon 


THE  QUEST  FOE  FORTUNE.  163 

I'll  jest  keep  on  to  'Frisky  and  git  posted  on  the  new  dodges ; 
inasmuch  as  failin'  wages  is  leaden  servitors  to  dull  delay,  like 
wise  Fortin"  allers  helps  them  as  helps  theirseives/' 

YTith  this  sage  maxim  and  prophetic  corollary,  the  editor  of 
the  Clarion  betook  himself  to  a  seat  in  a,  distant  corner,  where, 
with  a  Hour  barrel  for  a  desk,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  inditing 
what  he  termed  editorial  articles  for  the  flourishing  periodical 
he  controlled. 

The  Monday  came  and  saw  Mr.  Pangburn  safe  on  his  way,  at 
tended  by  the  good  wishes  of  all,  or  nearly  all  ;  for  if  the  truth 
must  be  told,  there  were  a  few  of  the  party  who  could  not  over 
come,  and  could  scarcely  conceal  then-  aversion  from  the  man. 
He  had,  however,  taken  great  pains  of  late  to  make  himself 
agreeable,  and  on  the  intervening  Sunday  before  his  departure  he 
had  made  a  successful  bid  for  popularity  with  the  ladies,  by  de 
vising  and  carrying  out  a  scheme  for  a  quiet  pic-nic  at  the  canon, 
in  order  that  they  might  see  and  admire  the  romantic  scenery 
which  environed  the  spot  whence  so  much  wealth  was  flowing 
into  the  general  coffers.  And  each  of  the  ladies  had  washed  out 
a  small  portion  of  the  precious  metal,  which  Zelotes  had  insisted 
upon  their  keeping  for  themselves ;  and  he  capped  the  climax  of 
his  gallantry  by  riding  clear  back  to  the  Bar,  where  Ike  and 
Lion  had  remained  in  charge,  to  fetch  Mrs.  Armstrong's  knit 
ting,  which  she  had  forgotten,  and  was  always  uncomfortable  to 
be  long  without. 

Mr.  Pangburn  was  gone  then,  bearing  many  good  wishes,  but 
he  would  bring  them  back  in  a  few  days,  so  that  his  departure 
caused  little  sorrow.  Xot  so  as  regarded  the  departure  of 
Marian,  an  event  which  was  to  take  place  on  the  Monday  next 
following.  Bitter  were  the  lamentations  of  Kitty,  who  was 
thus  to  be  deprived  not  only  of  a  kind  friend  but  of  a  teacher 
who  had  been  of  inestimable  service  to  her.  Many  were  the  re 
monstrances  of  Mrs.  Armstrong,  who  really  loved  Marian,  and 
who  was  persuaded  that  men  in  San  Francisco  added  to  the 
usual  criminal  disregard  of  their  sex  to  the  claims  of  patchwork 
and  cliiny,  the  most  shocking  depravity  that  could  be  imagined, 
and  that,  more  particularly  with  reference  to  lovely  and  unpro 
tected  young  women,  they  went  about  like  roaring  lions  seeking 
what  they  might  devour.  Seth  for  his  part  grieved  more  than 
he  cared  to  show  over  the  coining  separation.  Since  the  girl 
had  appealed  to  liim  at  St.  Louis  for  aid  and  protection,  ho  had 
grown  to  feel  more  and  more  like  a  father  toward  her  ;  and  to 
part  from  her  now  seemed  like  the  snapping  of  a  natural  tie. 
Nothing  could  induce  him  to  accept  the  money  she  strove  to 


164  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

force  upon  him  in  recompense  for  her  long  sojourn  with  the  fam 
ily  ;  he  pressed  it  back  into  her  delicate  hands,  and  holding 
them  and  it  together  between  his  own  horny  palms,  with  a  voice 
not  'quite  steady,  and  an  eye  not  quite  undimmed,  he  made 
Marian  promise  to  return  should  she  not  find  a  situation,  or 
should  she  for  any  reason  hereafter  require  a  home. 

And  Marian  and  Hugh  wandered  for  the  last  time  among  their 
favorite  walks,  up  and  down  the  path  by  the  river,  up  to  and  all 
around  the  lovely  little  lake  that  lay  perched  a&iong  the  hills. 
Again  they  sat  on  the  velvet  turf,  and  again  gazed  into  the  pla 
cid  waters,  and  watched  the  shadows  of  the  silent  trees.  And 
once  more  did  the  girl  breathe  into  her  companion's  unquiet  and 
feverish  spirit  something  of  her  own  ;  so  much  more  lofty,  so 
much  more  calm.  It  was  well,  perhaps,  that  all  this  was  soon  to 
end,  for  from  the  habit  of  giving  and  receiving  comfort,  strength, 
solace,  grows  something  which,  if  not  altogether  love,  becomes 
a  more  indispensable  necessity. 

Strangely  enough,  during  the  first  few  days  of  that  week  the 
yield  of  gold  from  the  caiion  grew  smaller  and  smaller.  For 
many  weeks  before,  the  days  had  ranged  from  thirty  to  fifty 
ounces  and,  during  one  week,  had  exceeded  the  latter  average  ; 
but  now  the  return  sank  by  nearly  one-half,  and  on  the  Friday 
the  miners  brought  home  but  ten  ounces.  On  that  evening — 
one  of  the  three  last  Marian  was  to  spend  at  the  Bar — Hugh  had 
spoken  again  in  his  discontented  way  about  seeking  his  fortune 
elsewhere. 

"I  shall  be  sorry  to  think  of  your  leaving  the  Armstrongs," 
said  Marian,  "  now  that  I  am  going  from  among  them." 

"  You  cannot  suppose  that  the  attractions  here  are  increased 
by  your  departure,"  replied  Gilford,  looking  sadly  out  upon  the 
river. 

"Nay,  I  wasn't  thinking  of  myself,  but  of  you.  I  don't  think 
you  quite  fit  to  go  among  strangers." 

"  Fit  ?  I  ?  who  am  naturally  one  of  the  most  solitary  of  hu 
man  beings  ?" 

"You  are  solitary  when  among  others,  perhaps  ;  but  there  are 
few  human  beings,  for  all  that,  who  need  others  more  than  you 
need  them." 

"  Your  riddle,  Marian  ?" 

"  Why,  what  is  the  whole  story  of  your  life  as  you  have  told 
it  me,  but  the  history  of  an  unsatisfied  craving  for  sympathy? 
You  think  yourself  in  love  with  solitude,  only  because  your  soul 
is  out  of  tune  with  those  around  you  ;  and  you  people  the  soli 
tude  with  spirits  more  harmonious.  Is  it  not  so  f 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  165 

u  And  will  ever  be,  I  fear,"  he  answered  gloomily. 

"  You  must  make  your  future,  Gilford,"  said  Marian,  earnestly, 
"  and  you  will  not  do  so  by  indulging  in  idle  repinings ;  you  can 
not  by  such  change  your  barren,  whitewashed  meeting-house 
into  Westminster  Abbey — a  change  which  is  a  type,  in  a  man 
ner,  of  what  were  needed  to  satisfy  you ;  nor  can  you  meta 
morphose  those  who  surround  you  into  idealized  creatures  who 
should  minister  to  your  intellectual  requirements.  But  you  can 
unlock  the  gates  and  overleap  the  barriers  which  separate  you 
from  these  and  more  than  these.  You  must  exert,  and  that  right 
resolutely,  Will,  Industry,  Self-Denial ;  they  will  infallibly  lead 
you  to  Strength.  Usefulness,  and  Power." 

•  •  Xot  without  money.  Marian.  We  reason  ever  from  opposite 
poles,  I  fear.  You  have  looked  upon  a  social  condition  alone, 
where  all  who  have  any  right  to  be  ambitious  are  provided  with 
wealth,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  begin  with  ;  I  upon  another, 
where  all  may  be  as  ambitious  as  they  will,  but  for  whom  the 
only  goal — the  sole  qualification,  without  which  you  are  nothing, 
with  which  you  are  everything — is  wealth  to  end  with." 

"  Get  the  gold  to  begin  with,  then,  and  press  onward  to  some 
thing  nobler !" 

"  A  man  is  unfit  for  anything  nobler  who  gets  wealth  by  the 
means  he  must  employ  to  get  it,  and  after  the  time  the  getting 
it  has  cost ;  a  gold-grubber  among  gold-grubbers,  what  is  he  fit 
for  after?  Is  there  any  Lethean  cup  whereof  he  may  quaff  and 
forget  the  sordid  paths  he  has  pursued,  the  foul  companions  he 
has  consorted  withal  ?  Can  he  even  forego  the  habits  which, 
mean  and  despicable  as  they  generally  are,  must  absolutely  be 
acquired  and  practised,  the  armor  offensive  and  defensive,  with 
out  which  he  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  desperate  throng  with 
whom  he  must  needs  do  battle  ?" 

••  The  picture  is  dark,"  said  Marian  with  a  sigh,  "  darker,  I 
think,  than  it  need  be  ;  it  must  be  possible  to  pursue  such  paths, 
to  herd  with  such  companions  even,  and  yet  keep  the  hands 
clean  and  the  soul  pure.  The  harder  the  task,  the  nobler  the 
achievement."  . 

"  Mortals  can  only  do  what  mortals  may,"  returned  Hugh ;  "  yet 
I  know  well,  if  I  haply  grow  to  be  a  better  and  purer  man  than  my 
early  and  bitter  experience  would  fain  have  made  me,  to  whom 
the  merit  will  be  justly  due.  But  I  would  speak  of  yourself, 
Marian — a  subject  on  wL'ch  we  may  agree  no  better,  but  whic 
is  surely  of  more  immediate  interest.  You  are  going  to  this 
new-born  city — to  San  Francisco — to  seek  employment  ?" 

11  Surely !" 


166  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"  But  you  have  no  friends  there,  no  single  acquaintance  even, 

to  attest  to  your  accomplishments,  to  vouch  for  your  character  1" 

1  "  No  ;  these  arc  things  which  should  speak  for  themselves." 

"  How  can  they  in  advance?  People  seeking  governesses, 
or  teachers,  always  ask  evidence  of  capacity,  references." 

"  As  to  capacity,  I  can  play,  sing,  speak  French  and  Italian, 
or  sketch  a  little,  and  my  employers  can  use  their  own  eyes  and 
ears  to  test  my  performances.  References,  truly,  I  have  none, 
and  I  must  endeavor  to  make  my  way  without  them." 

"You  will  be  exposed  to  unpleasantness,  to  insult,  perhaps, 
with  no  one  to  befriend,  no  one  to  protect  you  1" 

"  Was  I  so  exposed  when  I  crossed  the  plains  ?  Did  I  lack 
friends  or  protectors  there  ?" 

"  Ah,  that  was  different.  Different  in  circumstances,  re 
straints,  common  danger,  family  safeguards.  You  are  going 
into  a  new  world  now." 

1 '  I  have  no  fears.  They  are  our  countrymen  in  San  Fran 
cisco  ;  I  do  not  fear  them — not,  at  least,  in  a  State  like  this. 
Besides,  I  may  not  remain  there  long.  In  a  few  weeks  letters 
may  reach  me  from  Europe  ;  and  I  may  go  at  once  to  the  Aj- 
lantic  coast." 

"  And  we — you  and  I — will  never  see  each  other  again  !" 

A  slight  shiver,  came  over  Marian  at  the  words,  but  she  tried 
to  smile. 

' '  What  a  gloomy  prophecy !  Why  should  we  not  ?  The  world 
is  wide,  to  be  sure,  but  we  are  both  travellers,  both  wayfarers. 
Who  shall  say  when  we  may  not  cross  each  other  once  more  ?" 

"  Marian,"  said  the  young  man  gravely,  and  with  an  icy  em 
phasis  that  was  meant  to  cover  a  lire  which  threatened  to  burst 
forth  below,  "  Marian,  you  will  promise,  if  you  resolve  to  leave 
California,  to  write  me — to  that  effect — before  you  are  to  sail  ?" 

"  Write  to  you,"  repeated  she  in  some  embarrassment ;  then 
with  a  sudden  thought — "  it  will  not  be  necessary  ;  I  shall  write, 
you  know,  to  Kitty,  to  Mrs.  Armstrong." 

"  To  me  !"  he  persisted  imploringly. 

"  It  would  seem  unusual,"  hesitated  Marian,  "  cause  remark, 
perhaps,  and " 

"Your  letter  need  not  be  directed  here  ;  it  is  not  so  much  to 
ask.  Besides,  I  may  be  far  away  from  this  :  I  shall  let  you 
know  if  /  depart.  Won't  you  do  as  much  for  me  ?" 

"  Enough ;  I  will  do  as  you  wish ;  only  such  things  some 
times  work  mischief — through  misconception  and  accident,  I 
mean  ;  and  you  in  your  turn  must  promise  that,  should  I  write, 
you  will  destroy  my  letter." 


THE   QUEST    FOB   FORTCJNE.  167 

"  Willingly,  gladly." 

And  with  such  words,  ending  in  such  a  pledge,  the  two  wan 
dered  on  their  way.  each  feeling,  unbeknown  to  the  other,  what 
neither  could  rightly  express  ;  fcach  yielding,  in  those  last  few 
days,  to  the  inclination  to  be  much  with  the  other,  and  to  in 
dulge  in  trains  of  thought  which  constantly  tempted  to  such  ex 
pression.  It  was  well,"indeed,  that  all  this  was  so.  soon  to  end. 
Poor  Luke  often  thought  so,  for  although  he  was  quite  incapable 
of  watching  their  movements,  he  could  not  help  noticing  that 
Marian  and  Hugh  were  often  absent,  and  at  the  same  time.  He 
thought,  as  most  of  us  have  thought,  how  hard  it  was  that  there 
should  be  such  cross  purposes  in  the  world :  he  consoled  him 
self,  as  most  of  us  have  done,  with  the  reflection  that  his  imme 
diate  cause  of  suffering  would  soon  pass  away.  A  grievous  sol 
ace,  when  such  a  cause  has  become  to  the  suffering  soul  the 
only  source  of  joy. 

Saturday  night  had  come  again.  A  hot  stifling  night,  with 
a  thick  air  pushed  sluggishly  about  now  and  then  by  puffs  of  a 
sirocco-like  wind.  The  last  Saturday  night  Marian  was  to  be 
there,  a  circumstance  which  clearly  had  its  effect  on  the  spirits  of 
the  party,  for  they  were  sometimes  jocular  and 'sometimes  de 
pressed.  It  seemed  to  be  generally  agreed  that  the  occasion 
should  be  honored  as  a  sort  of  complimentary  festival  at  leave- 
taking  ;  but  the  cheer  had  an  air  as  of  funeral  baked  meats,  the 
old-fashioned  provender  which  served  as  a  recompense  to  those 
who  came  to  share  the  gloom  of  a  house  of  mourning  ;  and  it 
prompted  melancholy  retrospects  rather  than  happy  auguries. 

Mr.  Pangburn  had  not  yet  returned,  which  was  not  remarka 
ble,  since  he  had  expressed  his  determination  to  go  down  to  San 
Francisco.  Moreover,  he  might  have  had  trouble  with  Eli  S. 
Barlow,  as  he 'had  signified  his  dissatisfaction  with  late  numbers 
of  the  ;>  Mountain  Clarion,"  and  intimated  a  suspicion  that  his  dep 
uty  had  been  enjoying  "a-  leetle  tech  of  the  horrors  ;"  which  it 
appeared  was  the  sole  gratification  which  that  otherwise  exem 
plary  litterateur  occasionally  allowed  himself. 

"Things  don't  look  quite  so  bright  as  they  did  a  week  ago," 
said  Seth,  as  he  stretched  his  limbs  wearily,  and  wiped  the  per 
spiration  from  his  wrinkled  brow. 

"  The  gold  has  fell  off  a  sight,"  observed  Dick  Railes,  by  way 
of  reply. 

"I  weren't  thinking  of  that."  said  Seth,  "  at  least  not  then. 
We  must  take  the  good  with  the  bad,  so  fur's  that  goes.  If  the 
week  hain't  paid  as  well  as  some  did  two  months  back,  it's  paid  a 
heap  more'n  many  a  week  did  afore  we  dreamt  of  gittin'  a  speck 
on't  in  the  canon." 


THE    QUEST    FOB    FORTUNE. 

"That  air  Pangburn,"  pursued  Dick,  reflectively,  "  is  sharp- 
er'n  a  steel  trap,  he  is.  He  allowed  the  color'd  be  thar,  and  it 
was  thar.  He  reckoned  it  would  kind  o'  whittle  down,  and  it 
kind  o'  whittled  down.'' 

"  It's  the  creature's  instinct,"  grumbled  the  Doctor,  with  ac 
rimony;  "he  finds  gold  as  bears  find  honey,  or  as  hogs  find 
trufiies.  There's  no  more  merit  in  it  than  belongs  to  a  hound 
for  his  nose." 

"  He  is  s'rewd,"  continued  Dick,  who  appeared  to  be  in  a  eu 
logistic  mood,  "  he  is  s'rewd,  Pangburn  is.  Thar's  nigh  on  to 
a  hundred  thousand  witnesses  in  that  air  box  which  will  allow  that 
Pangburn  is  s'rewd." 

."I'm  suro  he's  dreadful  good-natered,"  remarked  Mrs.  Arm 
strong,  blinking  over  her  spectacles  from  the  corner,  "not  for- 
gettin'  him  a  totin'  this  very  knittin'  over  to  the  pic-nic,  it 
having  slipped  everybody's  mind  with,  the  excitement  of  that 
cheerful  gatherin'.  Likewise,"  continued  the  matron,  glar 
ing  with  ferocious  meaning  at  Father,  "  he's  the  only  man  I 
ever  see  with  idees  wuth  a  ball  o'  yarn,  touchin'  patchwork  and 
chiny  !" 

"  He  brought  us  some  very  pooty  calico  last  time  he  come  up," 
ventured  Kitty,  feeling  called  on  to  SAvell  the  chorus  in  praise  of 
the  absent  one,  "and  some  awful  nice  books  !" 

"  Do  say  very  nice,  Kitty,  dear,"  whispered  Marian,  whereat 
Kitty  colored  penitentially,  having  been  often  told  before. 

"  Whichever  way  you  look  at  it,"  added  Seth,  in  a  manner 
suggesting  that  he  had  viewed  the  subject  in  every  possible  light, 
"  whichever  way  you  look  at  it,  it  can't  be  denied  but  we  air  be- 
hoven  to  Pangburn  for  our  present  fortin'." 

"And  we  should  render  unto  Ca3sar  the  things  which  are 
Caesar's."  said  the  Doctor.  "  Agreed.  Far  be  4  it  from  me  to 
derogate  from  his  well-earned  laurels.  I  only  meant  to  imply 
that  it  was  through  the  gift  of  nature,  rather  than  by  toilsome 
acquisition,  that  he  gained  them  so  readily.  So  all  hail,  Pang- 
burn,  with  all  my  heart !" 

"  This  is  the  last  countin'  you'll  see,  Mary  Anne,"  said  Seth, 
sorrowfully,  "onless,  which  we  all  much  hope,  ye  see  fit  to  come 
back  home  among  us  once  agin." 

"  Miss  Rooke  will  soon  yearn  for  country  life,"  said  the  Doc 
tor  ;  "she  will  soon  tire  of  the  feverish  town,  which,  from  all  ac 
counts,  is  more  like  an  infant  Pandemonium  than  anything  else, 
and  come  back  to  the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  Bar." 

"  I  have  warned  her  what  she  lias  to  expect,"  said  Gifford  ; 
"  but,  like  most  ladies,  she  must  see  for  herself.  She  will  at 


MAKIAN  ROOKE;  OR,  1G9 

least  find  more  of  the  comforts  of  civilization  there,  if  few  of  its 
other  blessings.  This  is  hardly  an  establishment  which  presents 
attractions  to  any  except  such  enforced  gold-seekers  as  can  hope 
for  no  better." 

"We're  goin'  to  better  of  it  soon,"  remarked  Luke,  humbly, 
"  and  put  up  stables  where  the  corral  is,  and  storehouses  in  place 
of  the  huts  where  the  Irishmen  lived." 

"  Arter  two  or  three  months  more,"  added  Seth,  prudently, 
"  arter  two  or  three  months  more,  when  we  was  also  thinkin'  of 
puttin'  up  a  wooden  roof  instead  of  a  cotting  one,  with  other 
modern  improvements.  But  come,  boys,  fly  round  and  git  up  . 
the  chist.  We  must  jest  stow  away  what  we've  got,  if  it  ain't 
such  a  mighty  week's  work.  Hist  out  the  chist,  boys,  and 
Mother,  fetch  us  out  the  keys." 

In  their  accustomed  corner,  over  the  trap-door,  lay  Lion  and 
Ike,  both  of  whom,  having  been  fast  alseep,  seemed  to  think  it 
highly  unnecessary  and  absurd  that  they  should  be  disturbed. 
However,  they  consented  to  give  way,  and  the  door  having  been 
raised,  Luke  and  Dick  Railes  lifted  the  treasure-box  from  its 
place.  It  was  set  on  the  table  as  usual,  and  Mrs.  Armstrong 
having  brought  the  keys  and  the  gains  of  the  past  week  from  a 
chest  of  drawers  in  the  inner  room,  her  husband  unlocked  the 
heavy  padlock  and  opened  the  trunk.  There  lay  the  tin  box,  in 
the  middle,  with  the  various  little  bags  of  nuggets  and  the  curi 
ous  specimens  of  crystals  and  gold-bearing  quartz  arranged  about 
its  sides. 

Seth  now  proceeded  to  unlock  the  inner  sanctuary,  the  tin 
box  wherein  the  precious  dust,  the  fruit  of  their  accumulated 
months  of  labor,  was  every  week  deposited.  There  were  six 
little  bags  of  buckskin,  each  containing  from  ten  to  five-aud- 
twenty  ounces,  which  were  now  to  be  added  to  the  capital  store. 
But  as  the  old  man  opened  the  box  his  jaw  dropped,  his  eyes  di 
lated,  and  he  staggered  back  as  if  he  had  been  shot. 

"Thunder  and  Eghtnin'  !"  exclaimed  Luke,  "  what's  the  mat 
ter,  father  ?" 

"  The  gold  ! — the  gold  !"  gasped  Seth,  hoarsely  ;  "where  is 
the  gold  ?" 

All  rushed  to  the  table,  and  every  eye  was  riveted  on  the  con 
tents  of  the  box.  It  was  filled  with  pebbles  from  the  river-side 
of  many  a  shape  and  hue,  but  none  yellow,  none  gold. 

"  The  Devil !" 

"  We've  been  robbed  !" 

"  Where  is  it  ?" 

Shouted  simultaneously  the  Doctor,  Dick,  and  Luke  Arm- 
8 


170  THE   QLT5ST   FOR    FORTUNE. 

strong.  The  latter,  with  nervous  haste,  tore  open  bag  after  bag 
which  had  contained  the  nuggets.  Every  one  had  been  riile  ., 
and  the  contents  replaced  like  those  of  the  box  by  worthless 
stones.  Eagerly  did  Luke  empty  every  bag,  peer  into  every 
corner  to  find  some  trace  or  fragment  of  the  missing  treasure. 
All,  all  was  gone  !  There  was  not  even  a  sparkle,  save  from  a 
few  pieces  of  quartz  which  had  evidently  been  thought  too  bulky 
to  carry  away. 

"  The  box! — the  box  !"  cried  the  Doctor ;  "  empty  the  box !" 
Luke  did  so,  and  with  such  haste  and  trepidation,  that  the 
mocking  pebbles  rolled  in  every  direction  over  the  floor. 
"  Nothing,"  said  Luke,  in  despair,  "  nothing  here." 
"  Yes  there  is  !"  exclaimed  Dick  ;   "  look  there  !" 
A  paper  had  been  lying  on  the  very  bottom  of  the  box,  and 
now  fluttered  to  the  ground.     The  Doctor  stooped  and  snatched 
it  up.     As  he  opened  it,  writing  was  seen  on  the  inside. 

"Read  it,  Doctor,  read  it!"  cried  all, impatient  for  some  clue, 
now  they  knew  the  extent  of  their  misfortune.  In  a  hoarse 
growl,  and  with  many  an  interpolated  execration,  the  Doctor  did 
so.  The  paper  was  directed  on  the  outside  to  "  Kernui  Seth 
Armstrong  and  Co.,"  and  ran  as  follows  : — 
i  i  FELLER  CITIZENS, 

"  By  the  time  you  git  this  I  shah1  proberly  be  on  the 
boundin'  biller.  In  our  great  and  glorious  country  events  fol- 
lers  each  other  in  quick  sucksession,  and,  wafted  by  favorin'  gales, 
I  shall  natcrally  strike  New  York  immegiately  after. 

"In  takin'  leave  of  scenes  so  charmin'  which  fond  remem 
brance  my  heart  is  warmin',  I  find  it  difficult  to  express  the  anx 
ious  hopes  I  cherish  for  your  individooal  and  collective  welfare. 
But  all  may  be  simmered  down  into  one  fervent  aspiration,  That 
you  may  be  happy  yit ! 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  feller  citizens,  which, 
taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortin'  !  and  I've  concluded  to 
take  this  ere  tide  and  Sail  in  !  And  as  some  on  ye  might  think 
it  kind  o'  prematoor  that  I  take  so  much  of  my  sheer  to  once,  I 
hereby  make  over  all  the  rest  of  my  undivided  interest  in  the 
Bar  to  you,  Kurnel,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Co. 

"I  hope  Nobody  won't  feel  Riled.  Who  steals  my  puss 
steals  trash.  'Tis  Somethin'  nothink.  'Twas  mine,  'tis  his'n; 
and  altho'  the  gold  on  the  Bar  haint  been  slave  to  thousands, 
Cash  Circoolates  rapidly  in  this  Happy  Land,  so  nothing  exten- 
ooate  or  Set  down  Ought  in  malice.  As  to  your  repootations, 
you  can  leave  'em  with  confidence  in  the  hands  of  Pangburn, 
which  not  enricheth  him,  and  makes  you  Poor  Indeed. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  171 

"  I  think  the  canon's  about  gin'  aout.  And  it  would  be  small 
business  in  nie  to  be  a  sharin'  your  toils,  your  feelin's,  and  your 
fame,  when  there  ain't  Nothink  else  to  divide.  But  time  Flies, 
and  the  Etarnal  Ages  rolls  on.  My  Bark  is  by  the  shore,  and 
sails  on  Wednesday  at  Twelve  o'clock  percisely.  No  Berth  se 
cured  until  paid  for. 

"  Farewell  for  ever !  And  yit,  No.  We  shall  meet  agin, 
when  the  Mern'ry  of  these  Scenes  will  be  but  as  a  Parson  Bell, 
a  Dream  too  sweet  to  last,  when  you  shall  Forgit  the  feverish 
thirst  for  gold  in  Karmer  pursoots,  and  When  the  name  of  Pang- 
burn  shall  be  proudly  enrolled  among  the  Merchant  Princes  of 
his  country. 

"With  affectionate  complements  to  the  ladies, 
"I  am, 

"  Feller  Citizens, 

"  Your'n,  While  This  Mashine  is  To  him. 
"  Z.  PANGBUEN. 

"  P.S.  I  have  ordered  a  copy  of  the  '  Mountain  Clarion'  to 
be  sent  to  each  of  yer  for  6  months,  Postpaid. 

"P.S.  No.  2.  I  have  entirely  giv'  up  the  idee  of  the  stun- 
front  block  in  Utiky." 

It  was  too  true,  and  all  was  gone.  Pursuit  was  idle,  for  the 
steamship  taken  by  the  plunderer  had  sailed  on  the  Wednesday 
before.  The  dreams  which  had  counted  on  this  treasure  as  the 
foundation  of  fortune  were  all  in  a  moment  dissipated.  The 
fruit  of  six  months'  labor  had  been  swept  away,  and  the  party  at 
Armstrong's  Bar  were  once  again  as  poor  as  when  they  nrst 
had  recourse  to  the  Cafion. 


EXD   OF   THE  SECOND    BOOK. 


172  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 


BOOK     THE     THIED. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHEN  the  expectant  voyager,  whose  prow  has  so  many  days 
been  pointing  northward,  first  makes  the  promised  land  of  gold, 
his  eye  ranges  vainly  along  the  continuous  wall  of  frowning 
cliffs  in  search  of  a  hospitable  opening,  the  gateway  to  that 
haven  where  his  bark  shall  find  shelter  and  himself  rest.  He 
sees  far  away  to  the  eastward  the  soaring  peaks  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada;  he  sees,  masking  their  base,  the  rugged  contour  of  the 
Coast  Range ;  he  sees,  still  nearer,  the  ramparted  bulwark 
which  yet  affords  no  passage.  He  sees  much  that  is  weird  and 
uncommon  in  the  prospect  to  stimulate  his  imagination  and 
pique  his  curiosity.  The  mountains  have  a  height,  a  graceful 
ness  of  outline,  and  yet  a  grandeur  unmatched  by  the  prosaic 
Atlantic  shore.  The  sea  itself  grows  ruddy  near  the  land,  and 
the  atmosphere  has  a  positive  golden  tint  seldom  seen  on  the 
colder  coast  of  the  east.  These  phenomena,  natural  though  they 
be,  scarcely  seem  so  to  the  gaze  of  the  new-come  adventurer. 
They  seem,  on  the  contrary,  to  be  magical  touches  given  to 
natural  objects  by  unseen  genii,  to  the  end  that  visible  nature 
may  be  in  sympathy  with  the  strange,  romantic  vicissitudes  of 
the  golden  land ;  vicissitudes  which  mock  all  the  experience  of 
men  elsewhere,  and  which,  therefore,  should  fittingly  be  en 
circled  by  coloring  and  physical  detail  equally  unprecedented. 

The  adventurer  sees  all  these  things  and  marvels.  If  he  be 
sanguine,  he  accepts  them  as  happy  auguries,  and  his  breast  swells 
with  hope ;  if  superstitious,  he  may  view  them  as  adjuncts  in  a 
vast  scheme  of  Satanic  temptation,  and  his  bosom  may  thrill 
with  fear;  but  in  either  case  those  sentiments  will  be  greatly 
leavened  with  impatience ;  he  is  on  the  coast  of  California  in 
deed,  but  he  has  not  yet  seen  the  Golden  Gate. 

Far  onward  to  the  north-west,  trend  the  lofty  unbroken  wall 
and  the  rugged  hills  of  the  Coast  Range.  Peak  after  peak  of  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  173 

Sierras  appears  and  vanishes  in  succession  as  the  vessel  rushes 
on.  The  sea  grows  ruddier,  and  the  air  more  golden.  The 
coast  grows  more  distinct,  until  the  eye  discerns  the  point  where 
wall  and  water  meet.  But  there  seems  no  space  between  wide 
enough  to  pitch  even  a  tent  upon ;  there  is  nothing  but  a  sombre 
precipice  springing  abruptly  out  of  the  sea  to  a  height  of  several 
hundred  feet,  with  scarce  an  aperture,  a  nook,  or  a  plateau  to 
break  the  uniformity  or  to  temper  the  inhospitable  aspect  of  the 
panorama.  Suddenly,  almost  indeed  with  the  quickness  of  light 
ning,  the  cliff  opens  like  a  pair  of  flats  in  a  gigantic  theatre ; 
opens  with  a  rift  as  clean,  as  straight,  and  as  perpendicular. 
The  flats  recede  until  they  are  near  a  mile  apart,  although  the 
space  appears  but  a  span,  and  then  stand  like  two  towering  sen 
tinels  guarding  the  pass  thus  rent  asunder.  They  are  the  por 
tals  of  the  Golden  Gate,  and  beyond  them  is  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco. 

Thus,  at  the  very  entrance  of  El  Dorado,  things  come  upon 
the  beholder  in  the  character  of  surprises.  He  is  prepared  at 
the  outset  to  abandon  all  precedents,  and  to  expect  the  unex 
pected  as  a  matter  of  ordinary  routine.  He  is  prepared  to 
enter  upon  a  new  life,  neither  whose  pleasures  nor  whose  pains 
are  suggested  by  the  experience  of  the  old.  He  is  framed  to 
forget  all  commonplace  sequences,  and  to  begin  afresh  in  an 
atmosphere  of  paradoxes. 

This  entrance  seems  a  very  speck — a  mere  needle's  eye — to 
the  vast  and  otherwise  unbroken  extent  of  the  coast-wall.  It 
is  easy  to  see  how  earlier  navigators  ran  by  without  discovering 
what  is  so  comparatively  minute  and  yet  so  signally  important ; 
for  through  this  needle's  eye,  ships  of  the  hugest  tonnage  may 
pass,  and  the  combined  navies  of  the  world  could  float  in  safety 
on  the  magnificent  bay  within. 

To  the  right — that  is  to  say,  bearing  away  to  the  southward 
on  passing  through  the  Golden  Gate — lies  the  city  of  San  Fran 
cisco.  This  is  now  a  stately  metropolis,  whose  chief  constituents 
are  solid  granite,  marble,  and  other  scarcely  less  perishable 
masonry.  A  month  is  a  year  in  California,  and  a  year  a  decade, 
when  compared  with  the  histories  of  other  places ;  so  that  the 
changes  wrought  since  1850  may  be  reckoned  as  equivalent  to 
those  of  a  century  and  a  half  elsewhere.  At  that  time  a  large 
proportion  of  the  inhabitants  were  living  under  canvas.  There 
were  tents  on  the  hills  and  tents  in  the  valleys;  so  many  were 
there,  that,  in  conjunction  with  the  countless  shipping  in  the 
harbor,  it  was  difficult  to  escape  the  idea  that  an  army  had  dis 
embarked,  of  which  those  vessels  were  the  transports.  A  small 


174  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR 

town  existed  here  prior  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  upper 
country ;  a  town  chiefly  built  of  adobe,  disposed  in  one-storied 
dwellings,  and  devoted  to  a  small  trade  in  hides  and  tallow. 
There  was  also  some  attempt  at  military  fortification  on  the 
point  called  the  Presidio,  and  some  religious  buildings  of  more 
pretension  at  the  Mission  Dolores.  But  the  slothful  occupancy 
of  the  half-blooded  race  then  in  possession  was  next  to  none  at 
all ;  and  their  edifices  conveyed  just  such  a  notion. 

When  the  Americans  first  came  pouring  into  the  place,  they 
pitched  innumerable  tents  ;  and  the  tremendous  northwest  gales 
soon  blew  them  away.  Then  they  built  wooden  houses  for  a 
time  ;  and  almost  as  speedily  they  were  reduced  to  ashes.  Fi 
nally  they  brought  stone,  iron,  and  brick  sixteen  thousand  miles 
around  Cape  Horn,  and  built  a  town  which  promises  to  be  more 
durable.  These  changes  were  progressive,  like  the  means  they 
adopted  for  winning  the  precious  metal  from  the  earth  ;  first 
merely  scratching  up  the  particles  wherever  they  could  be  seen 
to  shine  ;  secondly,  the  using  of  fluids,  as  water  and  quicksilver, 
to  eliminate  the  gold  from  the  dross  ;  and  finally,  the  crushing 
of  solid  rocks  in  powerful  quartz  mills,  that  Nature,  even  with 
such  guards,  should  be  coerced  to  yield  up  her  treasure. 

Into  thi*  great  Bay  of  San  Francisco  are  discharged  the  vol 
umes  of  several  large  streams  which,  rising  in  the  mountains  and 
swelled  by  many  an  auriferous  affluent,  find  here  the  outlet  they 
have  long  sought  for  to  the  sea.  The  greatest  of  these,  the 
Sacramento,  boasts  also  of  the  largest  interior  towns  of  the  State 
to  grace  its  banks  ;  a  just  distinction  it  would  appear,  since  on 
these  banks  the  original  discoveries  of  the  gold  were  made. 
Like  all  rivers  in  California,  the  Sacramento  is  very  unequal  at 
different  seasons.  Low  and  placid  in  the  dry  season,  it  becomes 
an  angiy  freshet  oftentimes  in  the  wet.  Not  that  there  is  just 
apprehension  of  a  frequent  recurrence  of  the  great  floods  which 
devastated  the  valleys  of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  in 
December  and  January,  1861-2,  and  which  destroyed  the  works 
of  men  to  the  value  of  millions  of  dollars  ;  on  the  contrary, 
!  there  appeared  upon  those  occasions  to  be  conclusive  testimony 
in  the  ages  of  trees  swept  from  the  banks  of  those  streams,  as 
well  as  in  other  corroborative  incidents,  that  no  such  catastrophe 
had  occurred  for  several  centuries  before.  But  the  Sacramento 
often  overflows  its  banks  in  a  more  moderate  way  ;  and  it  did  so 
on  one  particular  night  a  few  months  after  the  events  which  were 
described  in  the  last  chapters  had  transpired  at  Armstrong's  Bar. 

It  was  a  wild  night,  pitch  dark,  with  rain  falling  in  torrents, 
and  a  thick  sulphurous  smell  in  the  atmosphere,  as  if  it  were 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  175 

loaded  with  electricity  which  could  find  no  other  means  for  man 
ifesting  itself  to  the  senses.  The  river  was  roaring  on  its  course, 
sometimes  expanding  into  a  lake  whose  shores  would  scarcely 
have  been  visible  by  daylight ;  sometimes  plunging  swiftly 
through  a  narrow  defile  where  the  banks  were  too  lofty  to  be 
submerged.  Down  the  stream  a  long  black  mass,  dotted  and 
splashed  with  glaring  lights,  was  flying  with  a  speed  which  could 
not  well  have  been  exceeded  had  its  track  been  ever  so  bright 
and  certain,  instead  of  so  dark  and  doubtful.  This  was  the 
steamer  li  Capital,"  on  her  way  from  Sacramento  to  San  Fran 
cisco.  How  she  contrived  to  steam  in  that  way  and  yet  meet  no 
mishap,  it  would  be  impossible  to  explain.  It  would  have  been 
equally  hard  to  account  for  the  apparently  irreconcilable  quali 
ties  of  her  commander.  He  was  one  of  those  singular  persons, 
peculiar,  I  fancy,  to  America,  who  unite  the  capacity  to  be  in  a 
continual  state  of  delirium  tremens  with  another,  to  perform  their 
various  duties — often  difficult  and  onerous  ones — in  a  most  thor 
ough  and  efficient  manner.  No  one  had  ever  known  old  Cap 
tain  Brace-bridge  to  be  sober ;  but  no  one,  on  the  other  hand, 
ever  knew  him  to  neglect  his  duty,  to  be  absent  on  an  emer 
gency,  however  unexpected,  or  to  have  any  disaster  happen  to 
his  boat  or  machinery.  It  really  seemed  as  if  he  must  keep  up 
a  dual  existence,  one  intelligence  being  riveted  with  sleepless 
watchfulness  on  the  movements  of  the  "  Capital,"  and  the  other 
devoted,  with  unremitting  industry,  to  "liquoring  "  with  almost 
every  passenger  that  fleet  vessel  conveyed.  The  Captain  was 
short,  wiiy,  and  active  ;  indeed,  although  sixty  years  of  age,  he 
was,  as  he  declared,  "  as  spry  as  a  catamount."  He  had  bushy 
gray  hair,  and  a  keen,  albeit  rather  watery  eye  of  the  same  color  ; 
a  hard,  red  face,  and  an  habitually  incoherent  manner  of  speak 
ing  on  all  occasions  save  with  respect  to  his  steamer. 

Such  was  the  person  who  had  just  succeeded  in  inveigling  Dr. 
Landale  to  his  cabin  to  "try  something,"  in  conformity  with 
about  his  tenth  invitation  to  that  effect  since  tea-tune.  As  to 
Hugh  Gifford,  he  had  positively  declined,  to  the  obvious  wonder 
of  the  Captain,  to  take  any  more  than  a  glass  of  the  champagne 
wherewith  the  evening's  felicities  had  commenced ;  and  he  was 
now  left  alone,  or  nearly  so,  in  the  large  saloon,  which,  running 
almost  the  whole  length  of  the  vessel,  served  as  sitting-room, 
diuing-hall,  and  promenade  all  in  one.  They  had  left  Sacramento 
that  afternoon,  so  that  there  had  been  little  opportunity  to  make 
acquaintance  with  fellow-passengers ;  but  the  Doctor  had  stum 
bled  upon  an  Englishman,  an  old  friend,  in  that  city,  who  hap 
pened  also  to  be  a  boon  companion  of  Captain  Bracebridge,  and 


176  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

who  had  insisted  on  introducing  them.     With  this  exception, 
neither  Hugh  nor  the  Doctor  knew  any  one  on  board. 

It  was  not  then  surprising,  especially  as,  being  twelve  o'clock, 
he  was  rather  sleepy,  that  Gifford  as  he  sat  resolving  to  retire  to 
his  state-room  and  to  forget  in  sleep,  if  possible,  the  moody 
thoughts  that  mingled  obscurely  in  his  brain ;  it  was  not  surpris 
ing  that  he  did  not  recognize  or  even  notice  a  strange-looking 
person  who  was  now  approaching  him.  This  was  a  lank,  sinewy 
man  with  hollow  cheeks,  a  sallow  complexion,  long,  straggling 
black  hair  put  behind  his  ears,  a  hawk-like  profile  and  a  particu-  - 
larly  fierce  expression,  who  had  been  hovering  about  the  group 
before  the  Captain  and  the  Doctor  had  gone  to  tiy  something. 
He  now  proceeded  to  make  his  concentric  rings  narrower,  re 
garding  Gifford  all  the  time  with  an  implacable  regard  quite 
formidable  to  behold.  He  came  closer  still,  and  seeing  that 
Gifford  was  still  staring  at  vacancy,  the  stranger  put  an  enormous 
cowhide  boot  under  the  other's  chair  and  kicked  forth  a  vast 
spittoon,  which  he  manoeuvred  into  a  position  immediately  in 
his  front ;  he  then  dragged  up  a  second  chair,  'and  straddling 
across  it  with  the  back  toward  his  face,  he  proceeded  to  drop 
into  the  vessel  previously  adjusted  a  huge  quid  of  tobacco. 
This  done,  and  still  scowling  horribly,  he  produced  a  savage- 
looking  clasp-knife,  and  cut  a  similar  delectable  morsel  to  replace 
the  one  rejected.  These  preparations  finally  attracted  the  atten 
tion  of  Gifford,  who  now  looked  at  the  man's  face  with  a  look  of 
inquiry  not  unmixed  with  amusement,  but  which  the  man  re 
ceived  without  changing  his  expression  or  indeed  moving  a 
muscle  of  his  iron  countenance.  Having  glared  in  silence  for 
full  a  minute,  he  spoke  at  last  in  a  voice  which  seemed  pumped 
up  from  the  very  bottom  of  his  chest : 

"Be  you  a  miner1?" 

"  Well,"  said  Hugh  smiling,  "  I  suppose  I  am." 

"  I've  mined  too,"  continued  the  man  sternly,  "  some.  But 
I'm  more'n  a  miner.  I'm  a  Pike,  I  am." 

"A  Piker  , 

"A  Pike   and  nothin'  shorter.     I  was  raised  on  hog  and',, 
hominy,  I  was.     I'm  a  hull  team,  I  am.     Likewise,"  he  added 
after  a  short  pause,  and  as  if  he  had  been  in  danger  of  making 
an  important  omission,  "with   a  little  yaller  dog  under  the 
wagon." 

"I  see,"  responded  Hugh,  scarcely  knowing  what  to  say,  and 
yet  perceiving,  from  the  impressive  manner  of  his  interlo 
cutor,  that  some  reply  was  expected. 

"  P'raps,"  continued  the  latter,  holding  his  head  on  one  side, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  177 

and  looking  at  Gifford  with  one  eye,  after  the  manner  of  an  in 
quiring  parrot,  "p'raps  you've  never  heern  tell  of  Layfayette 
eloper?" 

The  other  admitted  that  he  never  had. 

"  Wall,"  resumed  the  stranger,  with  an  air  of  unabated  de 
fiance,  "  that  air  pack,"  pointing  to  a  shapeless  bundle  not  far 
off,  enveloped  in  a  pair  of  dingy  red  blankets  secured  by  a 
strap,  "  that  ah-  pack  is  his'n." 

"Ah!" 

"  Likewise  this  here  buck -bag  is  his'n,  and  this  here  plug  of 
tobacco,  and  this  here  deck  o'  keards,  not  forgettin'  this  here 
artful  little  tickler,"  producing  a  fearful  bowie-knife,  and  strik 
ing  it  into  the  table,  where  it  stood  quivering,  "  which  are  also 
the  property  of  Layfayette  Sloper." 

"  I  understand,''  said  Hugh,  beginning  to  appreciate  his  com 
panion'  s  circumlocutory  method  of  imparting  information.  ' '  You, 
then,  are " 

"Not  to  put  too  fine  a  pint  on  to  't,"  said  the  other  severely, 
"  Layfayette  Sloper  sits  afore  ye." 

Hugh  said  something  in  the  way  of  congratulation,  and  added 
that  he  thought  of  going  to  bed. 

"Bed!"  echoed  Lafayette  with  a  frown;    "what  in  h 

d'  ye  want  to  go  to  bed  for  ?  We'll  expostoolate  a  piece  fust, 
I  guess.  Wharbouts  hev  you  bin  a  minin'  1" 

"At  a  place  called  Armstrong's  Bar." 

"  I  reckoned  as  much  ;  I  ciphered  you  come  from  the  Bar  and 
no  whar's  else." 

"Indeed?" 

"  I  heerd  that  there  Britisher  you're  a  travellin'  with  blowin' 
about  it  to  th'  old  Cap  ;  I  know'd  he  was  a  Britisher  by  his 
curus  lingo,  and  I  set  store  on  his  words  because  I  thought  a 
.spell  of  cornin'  ont'  the  Bar  myself." 

"  How  was  that,  pray  ?" 

•"  It  bein'  the  fashion,"  explained  Sloper,  "  for  Pikes  and  hull 
teams,  let  alone  little  yaller  clogs  under  the  wagon,  to  keep  their 
eyes  skun,  I'd  bin  prospectin'  for  a  slicker  place  than  Wild  Cat 
Canon  ;  Wild  Cat  havm*  been  my  previous  location,  and  a  pooty 
petikilarly  gol  darned  bad  one  at  that ;  so  I  pulled  up  stakes  and 
was  a  hesitatin'  as  to  whar  they  should  he  druv  next  when  I  see 
this."  The  speaker  here  drew  forth  an  extremely  dirty  frag 
ment  of  newspaper,  and  invited  Hugh's  attention  to  a  paragraph 
by  pointing  with  a  still  dirtier  long  yellow  claw.  "  I  see  this,  I 
did,  and  I  allowed  thar  was  the  place  whar  them  stakes  ought 
to  be  druv." 
8* 


178  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

The  fragment  was  a  portion  of  a  San  Francisco  daily,  some 
months  old,  and  the  paragraph  which  was  indicated  ran  thus  : 

"  Among  the  passengers  by  the  'Sonora,'  on  Wednesday,  was 
our  distinguished  fellow-citizen  and  brother  of  the  quill,  Colonel 
Hon.  Zelotes  Pangburn,  of  the  'Mountain  Clarion.'  The 
talent,  perseverance,  and  indomitable  will  of  this  enterprising 
pioneer,  have  been  illustrated  by  many  works  of  internal  im 
provement,  more  especially  those  at  Armstrong's  Bar,  where, 
it  is  said,  he  amassed  a  large  fortune  in  a  remarkably  short  space 
of  time.  The  Colonel  is  a  high-toned  gentleman,  and  will  do 
credit  to  our  State  on  the  other  side.  On  dit  that  he  proceeds 
to  Washington  to  claim  at  the  hands  of  Government  that  reward 
to  which  his  long  and  unflinching  devotion  to  his  party  justly 
entitles  him.  Attila  K.  Scalpgitter  may  well  tremble  when  he 
learns  that  this  squints  toward  the  Custom  House,  and  we  tell 
him  boldly  and  fearlessly  that  it  does" 

"  So  you  thought  of  emulating  Mr.  Pangburn,  did  you?" 
Hugh  asked,  as  he  returned  the  paper,  "  and  of  also  amassing  a 
fortune  in  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time  ?" 

"  Well,  I  did  that,"  answered  Sloper,  "  likewise  of  goin' 
better  and  emoolating  that  there  Scalpgitter  out  o'  the  Custom 
House.  If  I  understand  one  thing  better'n  another,"  he  con 
tinued  reflectively,  "it's  revenoo." 

'  *  But  has  Mr.  Scalpgitter  behaved  ill  or  in  any  manner  de 
served  removal  ?" 

"He  don't  soot  the  people,"  said  Lafayette,  harshly,  "and 
that's  enough.  He's  jest  chawed  up  all  his  popularity,  and  he 
ain't  'cute  enough  to  lay  in  a  fresh  stock.  One  thing  I  heerd 
tell  he  did  would  have  smashed  up  his  political  futur'  in  Pike 
whatever  it  does  in  Frisky." 

"And  what  may  that  have  been ?" 

"  He  put  up  a  rail  fence  round  his  desk  in  the  Custom  House, 
he  did,  so  that  the  citizens  couldn't  git  close  up  to  't  and  look  at 
the  papers  and  see  what  he  was  writin'  of.  No  seen  stuck-up 
ways  as  them  goes  down  with  our  folks." 

"  But  if  the  man  didn't  want  his  private  papers  overlooked, 
or " 

"He  was  a  servant  of  the  people,"  interrupted  Mr.  Sloper  acri 
moniously,  "  and  his  papers  was  public  papers,  or  they  hadn't  no 
call  to  be  be  thar.  If  he  wanted  to  hev  private  papers  he'd  oughter 
resigned  and  took  to  drink,  or  any  other  private  pastime 
which  sooted  his  voos.  Fences  was  made  for  cattle  and  not  for 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  179 

human  critters ;  and  to  have  gone  and  built  a  corral  like  that  to 
keep  out  the  citizens  up  to  Pike,  would  hev  jest  skeared  up  the 
dod  rottest  row  Scalpgitter  or  any  other  gitter  ever  heern  tell 
of  from  the  lips  of  sages.  He'd  hev  had  to  make  tracks,  he 
would ;  and  them  tracks  would  hev  had  to  be  as  spry  and  ily  as 
greased  lightnin'.  But,"  he  added,  waving  his  hand  as  in  dis 
missal  of  the  offensive  subject,  "  whar's  your  pile  1" 

"  My  pile  ?" 

1 '  The  Hon.  Kurnel  Pangburn  havin'  toted  off  his  pile,  I  in 
quire  whar's  your'n  ?" 

At  this,  Gifford  narrated  briefly  to  his  attentive  listener  the 
circumstances  which  preceded  and  attended  Mr.  Pangburn' s  de 
parture.  The  processes  whereby  the  ingenious  editor  had  'ob 
tained  the  confidence  of  the  community,  and  the  subsequent  use 
he  had  made  of  it  in  abstracting  the  common  capital,  appeared  to 
afTord  Mr.  Sloper  the  most  lively  satisfaction.  For,  although 
nothing  could  induce  him  to  smile,  there  was  a  delighted  twinkle 
in  his  cavernous  eyes,  and  a  rolling  of  his  quid  from  side  to  side 
of  his  mouth,  which  were  indicative  of  the  most  superlative 
pleasure  it  was  in  his  nature  to  experience. 

"  And  so  he  belted  the  hull  pile  ?"  he  queried,  as  Gifford  con 
cluded,  amid  these  unconcealed  expressions  of  sympathy  and 

joy- 

''Every  penny  of  it." 

"Darn  my  sister's  cat,  then,  if  he  ain't  a  screamer!  a  real 
contoomacious,  highfalootin,  ring-tailed  top-sawyer,  that's  what 
he  is  !  And  what  was  all  the  rest  on  ye  up  to  while  the  Kurnel 
was  playin'  this  nice  little  game  ?" 

"  Doing  ?     Taking  him  for  an  honest  man,  I  suppose." 

';  Ye  don't  want  no  more  pardners,  do  ye  ?" 

'•  Why,"  replied  Gifford,  laughing,  "  I  fear  the  same  oppor 
tunities  are  unlikely  to  recur.  The  yield  has  been  much  less,  on 
the  average,  since  our  loss  ;  but  we  have  also  been  much  more 
vigilant.  We  resolved,  too,  that  whenever  we  got  up  to  a  cer 
tain  small  sum,  for  the  future,  it  should  be  at  once  removed  to  a 
place  of  greater  safety." 

"  That's  what  you  and  the  Britisher  is  up  to  now?" 

"  Well,  we  are  taking  down  a  little  dust — not  much ;  but  we 
have  other  business  which  takes  us  to  the  city." 

Lafayette  eyed  his  companion  for  some  time,  in  his  morose 
way,  and  then  asked  : 

"Do  ye  sport  some1?" 

"  Sport  ?"  repeated  Hugh. 

**  Be  you  a  bucker  agen  Pharaoh  ?     Air  you  a  gay  gambollier  ? 


180  MARIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 

Hev  you  never  fit  the  tiger  ?  Hev  you  never  tried  to  captur' 
the  eagle-bird  by  chance  ?" 

Gifford  was  forced  to  confess  his  inexperience  in  these  fascinat 
ing  mysteries. 

"  I  ain't  no  professed  sport,"  continued  Sloper,  with  some 
contempt,  "  although  I  kerry  them  keards.  But  I've  had  my 
experience — I've  seed  the  elephant,  and  I  know  his  way.  J 
begun  feelin'  of  him  on  Spanish  monte  and  roulette ;  and  I 
finished  off  with  Pharaoh  and  Draw-Poker ;  and  I  allow  that 
Pharaoh  and  Draw-Poker  was  too  many  for  me.  They  jest 
over-sized  my  pile  and  raked  down ;  which  was  exactly  the 
reason,  stranger,  that  I  didn't  fetch  up  to  Armstrong's  Bar." 

Hugh  felt  a  gratitude  to  those  potent  agencies  which  he  did 
not  feel  called  upon  to  express,  but  said  he  had  always  heard 
that  it  was  eminently  imprudent  to  attempt  such  games  against 
professional  players. 

"Geri'rally  speaking,"  said  Sloper,  "it  are;  but  banks  is 
bust  sometimes,  and  I  might  be  a  buster  as  well  as  any  other 
man." 

" But  how,"  asked  Gifford,  "did  these  misfortunes  interfere 
to  prevent  you  from  coming  to  the  Barf 

"Why,  I  know'd  you  was  a jint-stock,  'cause  it  said  as  much 
in  Kurnel  Pangburn's  paper,  the  i  Mounting  Clarion ;'  and 
there  was  accaounts  'most  every  week  of  folks  gittin'  draw'd  on 
for  comin'  there  and  prospectin'  without  leave  of  the  company  ; 
and  havin'  bucked  away  most  all  my  pile,  I'd  never  a  dime  to 
buy  in ;  that's  how.  But  I  kin  jest  tell  ye  one  thing,  stranger, 
and  I  don't  kear  if  you  put  it  in  when  ye  write  to  your  friends, 
and  that  is,  I'm  bound  to  git  even,  I  am.  That's  what  I'm 
goin'  to  Frisky  for.  They've  beat  me  in  the  diggins,  but  I'll 
clean  'em  in  the  taown,  as  sure  as  I  come  from  Pike  Caounty. 
I  haint  got  more'n  two  slugs  to  go  in  with,  but  if  I  don't  make 
my  everlastin'  fortin  out  on  'em,  my  name  ain't  Sloper  nor  yit 
Layfayette.  I'm  goin'  down  to  that  thar  burg,  stranger,  to  real 
ize  ;  and  gol  darn  my  preternatooral  pictur  if  I  don't  realize  or 
die!" 

With  these  sentiments,  delivered  with  an  air  of  unspeakable 
ferocity,  Mr.  Sloper  replaced  his  bowie  knife,  and  gloomily  de 
manded  that  Gifford  should  descend  with  him  to  the  bar,  and 
liquor — a  demand  which,  as  it  seemed  to  be  enforced  by  a  tacit 
alternative  of  immediate  death,  was  prudently  complied  with. 
So  they  went  down  by  gangways  which  were  streaming  with 
water,  and  all  groaning  and  shivering  with  the  force  of  the 
wind  and  the  strain  of  the  engine,  and  passed  by  the  great 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE. 


181 


throbbing  engine  in  its  lurid  home,  with  the  black  figures  of 
tenders  and  coal-passers,  looking  like  ministering  fiends  in  the 
crimson  glare,  and  thus  into  the  bar. 

When  they  got  there  it  became  obvious  enough  why  the  up 
per  portions  of  the  boat  were  comparatively  deserted  ;  for  the 
room  was  crowded,  almost  to  suffocation,  with  miners,  and  tra 
ders,  and  lawyers,  and  "sports" — four  classes  which  predomina 
ted  over  all  others  at  this  season  in  California,  and  were  mis 
chievous,  as  a  rule,  in  the  inverse  order  of  their  enumeration. 

There  were  a  good  many  people  who  looked  like  Mr.  Sloper, 
that  is,  with  hawk  faces,  deep-set  eyes,  and  hair  behind  ears, 
high  sombreros,  red  flannel  shirts,  and  long  cowhide  boots.  There 
were  a  good  many  who  looked  like  Mr.  Pangburn ;  that  is,  with 
very  greedy  faces,  goatees  on  their  chins,  beaver  hats,  and  black 
suits  from  head  to  foot.  The  "sports"  were  distinguished  by 
the  superior  richness  and  cut  of  their  garments,  and  by  wearing 
a  profusion  of  (real)  jewelry ;  they  were  more  distinguished 
still  by  a  sobriety  quite  remarkable  among  so  many  hard  drink 
ers  ;  it  was  incompatible  with  successful  business  to  get  drunk. 
Through  the  uproarious  crowd  Gifford  and  Ms  new  acquaintance 
elbowed  their  way  to  the  spot  where  an  urbane  gentleman,  with 
glossy  black  curls,  immaculate  linen,  and  a  diamond  breastpin, 
which  could  not  have  cost  less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  was  dis 
pensing  ''drinks"  to  the  vociferous  and  eager  customers,  who 
kept  him.  nothing  loath,  in  a  continual  state  of  activity. 

Mr.  Sloper  took  a  rum-and-brandy  punch,  strong,  and  Gifford, 
to  be  consistent  with  what  he  had  taken  earlier,  took  a  glass  of 
champagne,  for  that  attractive  effervescent  could  be  had  at  the 
bar  for  the  same  price  with  other,  even  the  most  common  bever 
ages,  no  more  no  less  ;  twenty-five  cents  being  the  charge  for  a 
glass,  let  the  liquor  be  what  it  might. 

In  this  choice  retreat  there  roared  a  very  cataract  of  sound. 
There  was  the  constant  monotonous  rush  of  the  vessel  through 
the  water  for  an  undertone  ;  above  this  the  intermittent  heaves 
and  throes  of  the  machinery  ;  and  higher  still  the  crash  and  jin 
gle  of  an  hundred  shouting  voices  in  half  a  dozen  different  lan 
guages  ;  for  England,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Spain,  and  Chi 
na  had  representatives  there,  as  well  as  Yankee  land.  Then 
there  was  the  clinking  of  dollars  from  a  couple  of  rnonte  tables  to 
add  to  that  of  the  glasses  at  the  bar  ;  for  gambling  was  openly 
practised  on  board  steamers  as  well  as  elsewhere  at  this  period  ; 
and.  to  crown  all.  a  vocal  concert  was  in  progress  in  one  corner, 
an  agonizing  stave  being  just  then  in  favor,  the  refrain  of  which 
appeared  to  be  : 


182  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"  Blow  on,  blow  on,  we  love  the  h-a-o-wling 
Of  winds  that  waft  us  o'er  the  sea  !"  etc.,  ad  lib. 

The  noise,  the  smoke,  and  the  unsavory  peculiarities  of  many 
of  his  neighbors  led  Hugh  to  beat  a  retreat  as  soon  as  he  felt  he 
could  do  so  without  giving  mortal  offence  to  Mr.  Sloper,  and  so 
subject  himself  to  the  chance  of  being  "  ripped"  by  that  stern 
patriot,  whom  he  left  at  last  engaged  in  a  discussion  with  a  long 
Kentuckian  on  some  technical  point  in  "  Draw-Poker." 

Hugh  went  to  his  state-room,  an  apartment  shared  with  the 
Doctor,  and  found  that  that  gentleman  was  still  detained  in  the 
hospitable  toils  of  Captain  Bracebridge.  He  would  have  locked 
the  door  as  fearing  another  attack  from  Lafayette,  who  might  not 
unreasonably  be  expected  to  become  heated  with  drink  and  elo 
quence  below  ;  but  he  must  needs  leave  free  ingress  for  his  com 
panion  ;  so  he  prepared  to  stretch  himself  on  his  narrow  pallet 
without  that  precaution. 

Before  doing  so,  however,  Hugh  drew  forth,  smoothed,  and 
read  over  two  letters  which  he  had  received  during  the  week  just 
passed.  The  one  which  had  come  the  greatest  distance  bore  a 
Massachusetts  postmark,  and  its  contents  were  these  : — 

"East  Canaan,  Mass.,  July  20th,  1851. 

"  DEAR  HUGH, — 

"  It  seems  ever  so  long  since  you  went  away,  especially 
when  we  think  that  people  make  fortunes  so  quick  in  California. 
And  I  hope  you  will  make  yours  right  away,  and  come  home, 
for  Pa  seems  a  little  set  against  your  being  so  '  dreadful  careless,' 
as  he  says  you  must  have  been  to  lose  all  that  beautiful  money 
you  had  saved  up.  He  thinks  he  knows  some  of  the  Pangburns, 
and  says  they  are  all  smart,  and  sure  to  turn  out  rich.  Pamelia 
Staples  has  married  very  well  off,  and  his  name  is  Cuticle  S.  Flip, 
with  quite  a  large  practice,  and  I  admire  to  see  the  chaise  they 
come  to  church  in  on  Sundays,  though  he  is  sometimes  called  out 
during  service.  Pa  frets  about  the  mortgage,  and — I  wouldn't 
say  it  to  any  one  but  you — I  think  he  drinks  some  because  the 
Pennifeathers  have  a  new  roof  to  their  barn,  and  sold  their  first 
hay  at  eighteen-fifty,  he  only  getting  eighteen-twenty-five.  I  for 
got  to  say  that  Isabel  Tarbox — you  remember  a  black-eyed  girl  (not 
a  very  nice  complexion)  you  thought  pretty  ?  Well,  she  is  mar 
ried  down  at  Boston,  Pa  says,  to  a  very  good  thing  in  fish. 
People  here  seem  to  speak  rather  coldly  about  you,  I  don't  know 
why,  which  is  very  wicked  of  them.  But  they  act  as  though 
folks  who  are  away  must  always  be  doing  something  wrong,  and 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  183 

deserve  to  be  systemically  run  down,  unless  they  come  back 
quick  with  a  great  deal  of  money.  This  aggravates  me  pretty 
badly,  but  perhaps,  dear  Hugh,  it  was  a  little  careless  to  lose  all 
that  money,  and  when  I  see  the  Cuticle  Flips  with  that  change 
able  silk  and  real  ostriches  in  a  horse  and  chaise,  sometimes  am 
foolish  enough  to  repine  at  the  hardness  of  fortune.  Which  re 
minds  me  of  our  minister's  new  house,  and  what  he  said  about 
you  when  we  called  there.  The  house  is  beautiful,  being  an  ex 
act  model  of  the  Parthenon,  furnished  with  the  most  lovely  rose 
wood  piano,  and  everything  Turkey  in  the  chambers,  and  Brus 
sels  in  the  parlors.  It  is  already  known  as  the  Pride  of  Canaan, 
presented  by  his  affectionate  parishioners  to  Rev.  Pastile  F.  Bau 
bee.  I  wouldn't  think  of  writing  what  he  said  about  you.  but  I 
have  suspected  Pa  some  of  putting  Mr.  Baubee  up  to  it,  know 
ing  his  words  always  fall  with  Weight,  and  besides,  I  do  not  like 
to  keep  any  secrets  from  you  during  the  present  understanding. 
What  he  said  was  that,  considering  your  antecedents  and  youth 
ful  atmosphere — the  old  leaven  brought  by  your  Pa  from  a  sinful 
and  unenlightened  soil — and  the  physiological  consequences 
which  the  Calm  Eye  of  science  could  predict  of  such  conditions, 
that  you  were  likely  to  turn  out  illy.  That  in  a  general  way 
he  feared  you  was  a  brand  whom  it  wouldn't  pay  to  try  and  pluck 
from  the  burning.  And  this  idea  that  you  won't  pay  seems  to  be 
running  in  Pa's  head  ever  since.  So  I  do  trust,  dear  Hugh,  anx 
ious  as  I  am  to  reconcile  our  hopes  with  filial  devotion,  that  you 
will  ere  long,  by  some  means  or  other,  make  up  for  the  past,  and 
silence  calumny  by  ample  provision  for  the  future.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  there's  nothing  for  silencing  the  world  like  being  inde 
pendent  of  it,  and  folks  in  Canaan  now  appear  to  be  quite  agreed 
on  the  subject  of  substantial  property.  I  told  brother  John  what  Mr. 
Baubee  said  about  you,  and  he  said,  lLes  abscns  sont  toujours 
torts,'  and  that  he  was  an  old  jackass  ;  but  it  is  right  to  add  that 
I  don't  think  this  fairly  represents  current  opinion  in  Canaan. 
We  are  to  have  a  visitor  next  week — young  Mr.  Gaycow,  who 
speculated  heavily  last  fall  for  a  rise  in  groceries  ;  he  had  a 
store,  you  know,  at  Canaan  Centre,  and  since  then  has  made  a 
great  deal  of  money  in  tacks,  and  has  bought  a  factory  with  very 
efficient  water  power  at  Persepolis,  N.  Y.  Well,  he  is  coming 
home  to  buy  property,  and  Pa  would  insist  on  his  staying  with 
us  during  his  sojourn,  which  is  therefore  agreed,  and  I  am  to 
have  a  new  changeable  silk,  purple  in  one  light,  and  gold  in  an 
other,  like  Mrs.  Flip's.  Ah,  Hugh,  I  hope  "it  will  not  be  faded 
by  the  time  you  get  back.  But  it's  quite  true  they  don't  wear 
as  well  as  black.  Pray,  dear  Hugh,  take  care  of  your  precious 


184  MARIAN     ROOKE;     OR, 

health,  and  the  gold  you  may  be  fortunate  enough  to  dig  here 
after,  for  the  sake  of 

"  Your  affectionate  but  anxious, 

"VIRGINIA." 

"  N.B. — We  hear  a  good  deal  of  *  specimens.'  If  you  were 
to  send  some  nice,  rich  ones,  directed  to  Pa,  I  think  it  would  have 
a  good  effect.— V." 

Hugh's  other  letter  was  much  briefer,  and  ran  as  follows : — 

"  San  Francisco,  Oct.  2Qth,  1851. 
"Mr  FRIEND, — 

"  Although  I  think  it  had  been  better  otherwise,  I  must 
yet  keep  my  promise,  and  tell  you  that  I  am  to  sail  by  the  *  Gold 
en  Age '  next  Wednesday,  for  New  York. 

"  M.  R." 

Gifford  read  these  missives  and  re-read  them,  and  then  com 
pared  the  writings  in  a  mechanical  sort  of  way ;  and  then  he 
heaved  a  great  sigh,  and  put  them  away  again  in  the  pocket 
whence  they  came.  Then  he  lay  down  in  his  berth  for  a  while, 
and  dreamed  strange  dreams,  wherein  Marian  came  and  smiled 
sweetly  upon  him,  and  Mr.  Sloper  came  and  danced  madly  up 
and  down  with  Cuticle  S.  Flip.  From  these  uneasy  slumbers 
he  was  roused  now  and  again  by  bacchanalian  shouts  and  the 
harsh  yell  of  the  people  who  loved  the  h-a-o-wling  of  winds 
that  blew  them  o'er  the  sea.  And  then  the  Doctor  came  in  very 
late  and  rather  unsteady,  and  not  quite  so  decorous  generally 
as  was  his  wont ;  whence  ensued  some  discussion  of  the  relative 
merits  as  boon  companions  of  the  Captain  and  Sloper.  Finally, 
not  even  the  incessant  Babel  of  noises,  and  not  even  the  jerks 
and  thumps,  which  gave  the  idea  that  the  steamer  was  crashing 
through  a  submarine  forest,  could  keep  Hngh  awake  longer, 
and  he  fell  into  a  heavy  sleep.  When  he  awoke,  the  sun  was 
pouring  a  flood  of  yellow  light  through  the  state-room,  and  he 
looked  forth  from  the  window,  and  saw  for  the  first  time  the 
far-famed  golden  city. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  185 


CHAPTER  H. 

To  meet  a  man  dressed  in  broadcloth  and  fine  linen,  laying 
down  the  law  to  listening  potentates  of  trade,  and  who  on  in 
spection  is  remembered  as  an  Irish  cab  driver  in  the  city  of  Xew 
York — to  find  in  another,  who  handcarts  your  luggage  to  the 
hotel,  a  man  of  Cambridge  who  sweetens  brokerage  with  Greek 
quotations — to  recognize  in  the  voluble  auctioneer  on  a  corner, 
the  former  occupant  of  a  not  obscure  pulpit — to  see  half  the 
business  population  of  a  commercial  town  thronging  to  gam 
bling  tables  in  open  day — to  read  names  on  election  papers  posted 
as  candidates  for  high 'offices,  which  belong  to  people  who  ran 
away  defaulters  and  disgraced  from  their  homes  in  the  East — all 
these,  and  many  more  kindred  peculiarities  may  be  admitted  to 
be  well  calculated  to  strike  a  new-comer  with  interest  and  aston 
ishment.  With  these  and  many  more  such  extraordinary  things 
were  all  of  us  familiar  who  were  in  San  Francisco  in  1850. 

Since  then  the  city  has  crept  up  and  covered  many  a  slope 
which  at  that  time  was  bare.  Since  then  the  tents  of  Happy 
Valley  have  been  superseded  by  solid  masonry.  Since  then 
what  was  most  suggestive  of  a  huge  gipsy  encampment  has 
become  suggestive  of  the  early  vigor  of  Carthage  or  of  Tyre. 
Gambling  has  ceased  in  the  high  places,  and  the  gamblers 
are  no  longer  the  magnates  of  the  land.  Women  are  in  a 
greater  ratio  than  as  one  to  fifty  of  the  population — a  propor 
tion  which  then  unfortunately  existed ;  and  such  a  thing  as  a 
baby  is  not  followed  about  the  town  as  a  natural  curiosity.  I 
suppose  a  sudden  fusilade  of  pistol-shots  is  a  more  uncommon 
and  startling  thing  there  now  than  it  was  then ;  albeit  we  were 
lately  told  of  a  wonderful  desperado  who  managed  to  kill  five 
assailants  who  set  upon  him  in  the  comfortable  old-fashioned  way 
in  the  public  streets  ;  an  incident  which  appeared  to  revive  in 
the  newspapers  of  the  place  quite  touching  and  sentimental  re- 
minicences. 

Those  merry  days  are  gone  when  excitable  gentlemen  used  to 
waylay  and  shoot  each  other  down  at  corners,  or  when — as  they 
were  said  to  have  done  at  Yallecitos — the  playful  fellows  would 
rush  out  from  gambling  houses  at  midnight  and  fire  promiscuous 
volleys  up  and  down  the  streets,  from  mere  speculative  motives 
to  see  what  they  might  hit.  The  times  when  you  could  go  up  to 


186  MARIAN    KOOKE  ;      OR, 

the  Plaza  of  an  evening,  feeling  certain  if  your  spirits  were  lan 
guid  of  having  them  quickened  and  refreshed  by  the  spectacle  of 
a  rattling  "knock-down  and  drag-out  fight,"  which  would  even 
be  among  the  tamest  and  most  ordinary  episodes  of  nightly 
amusements,  have  doubtless  vanished  ; — those  small  hours  when 
governors,  and  senators,  and  great  lawyers,  and  leading  bankers 
mingled  graciously  with  blacklegs,  pugilists,  and  "fancy  men," 
and  staked  then*  salaries,  their  retainers,  and  their  depositors'  for 
tunes,  if  not  their  own,  upon  the  chances  of  faro,  have  gone,  I 
suppose,  to  return  no  more. 

The  promising  epoch  when  Irish  ward  politicians — the  dregs 
of  the  dregs  of  the  great  Atlantic  towns — with  Australian  ticket- 
of-leave  men  and  a  sprinkling  of  Western  border  ruffians,  dom 
inated  San  Francisco,  and  fostered  social  conditions  against 
which  decent  men,  in  self-defence,  at  last  took  the  law  in  their 
own  hands  by  organizing  the  Vigilance  Committee,  has  been  re 
placed  by  another  less  variant  to  civilization.  This  committee, 
w^hich  was  a  sort  of  Wittenagemote  or  mass  meeting  of  Judge 
Lynches,  was  one  of  those  unlawful  organizations  for  a  good 
end  which  the  intriguing,  the  turbulent,  and  the  debauched  al 
ways  denounce  most  bitterly  on  the  score  of  their  technical  ille 
gality,  for  the  excellent  reason  that  their  own  excesses  could 
never  have  been  checked  by  any  better  authorized  machinery 
that  existed.  The  Vigilance  Committee,  like  other  agencies 
which  could  be  named,  was  distinctly  unconstitutional  and  as 
distinctly  necessary,  not  for  the  purgation  alone,  but  for  the  ab 
solute  existence  of  the  community.  It  put  an  end  to  gross 
abuses  by  radical  measures,  indicated  the  way  to  prepare  for  a 
healthy  future,  did  its  work  thoroughly,  and  then,  unlike  some 
other  revolutionary  committees  we  all  wot  of,  by  its  own  volun 
tary  act  and  motion  disappeared. 

But  in  1850  all  those  choice  and  eccentric  spirits,  who  were 
destined  to  be  so  cruelly  interfered  with,  exported,  suspended, 
or  restrained,  were  in  high  feather,  and  exerted  full  sway  in  the 
land  of  gold.  So  far  were  they  from  being  ashamed  of  them 
selves,  that,  with  a  pride  which  often  goeth  before  a  fall,  they 
vaunted  and  glorified  their  misdeeds  before  the  common  gaze  ; 
which,  as  many  of  them  were  in  official  stations,  they  could 
more  readily  do.  It  is  evident  from  the  reaction  which  they 
provoked  that  the  social  elements  were  by  no  means  all  bad. 
On  the  contrary,  they  included  much  that  was  honorable,  high- 
minded,  enterprising,  and  progressive.  San  Francisco  was  a 
sample  pattern,  in  which  were  woven  and  interwoven  threads 
of  gold  and  of  dross — a  specimen  which  exhibited  in  little  all 


THE   QL'EST   FOR  FORTUNE.  187 

that  is  brightest  and  best,  and  all  that  is  basest  and  worst  in 
American  society.  But  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  nearly  all  the 
latter  constituents  were,  as  they  usually  are,  palpably  and  imme 
diately  of  European  origin.  It  seems  to  be  in  the  nature  of 
things  that  these  inevitable  immigrants,  much  as  they  always 
hate  the  Old  World,  should  be  as  troublesome  in  their  changed 
situation  as  if  they  equally  hated  the  New. 

California,  I  have  said,  was  a  land  of  surprises  ;  and  it  was  a 
curious  study  to  see  how  anomalies  in  character — unexpected 
and  unaccountable  warps  one  way  or  the  other — seemed  to  be 
produced  or  reacted  by  strange  things,  physical  and  material. 
It  was  curious  to  see  blood  relations,  one  of  whom  came  sud 
denly  into  the  possession  of  wealth  beyond  his  wildest  dreams, 
refuse  the  other  money  to  buy  food  or  shelter ;  curious,  in  an 
other  similar  case,  to  see  the  lucky  adventurer  insist  upon  shar 
ing  dollar  for  dollar  with  his  less  fortunate  brother.  It  was  in 
structive  to  see  starchy,  east-iron  men,  who  had  been  deacons 
of  New  England  churches  may  be,  plunging  frantically  into  the 
most  reckless  dissipation  in  San  Francisco  ;  instructive  to  see 
those  artful  persons,  who  used  to  dodge  circumspectly  up  tortu 
ous  alleys  where  drink  is  sold  on  the  sly  in  Puritanic  Boston, 
fearful  lest  any  critical  eye  should  track  their  devious  steps,  now 
drinking,  and  swaggering,  and  cursing,  full  in  the  public  view, 
amid  the  blaze  of  lull  noon  ;  instructive  to  see  scholars  turned 
cartmen,  divines  turned  hawkers,  gamblers  made  judges,  and 
ploughmen  transformed  into  millionaires. 

But  Hugh  Gifford  thought  little  of  .these  things,  however  he 
might  ordinarily  have  appreciated  their  teachings.  He  was  in 
the  same  town  with  Marian  ;  breathing  the  same  air,  seeing  the 
same  sights,  treading  the  same  streets  which  she  might  daily 
tread  ;  and  all  that  he  saw  and  heard  was  as  nothing  for  its  own 
sake,  and  only  interesting  as  associated  with  tliis  absorbing 
thought.  Was  he  in  love  with  her  then,  and  had  his  heart  al 
together  turned  traitor  to  Virginia  ?  He  did  not  think  so  ;  at 
least  not  always,  although  there  were  certainly  times  when  his 
brow  would  knit  and  his  breast  grow  cold  as  he  read,  in  almost 
every  line  of  her  letters,  how  the  glorification  of  lucre,  and  the 
pitiful  standards  of  those  who  surrounded  the  girl,  had  grown 
into  and  debased  a  soul  which  might  naturally  have  been  a  gen 
erous  one.  But  at  such  times,  and  on  the  heels  of  such  reflec 
tions,  he  would  ask  himself  what  right,  of  all  others,  he  had  to 
contemn  Virginia  for  the  love  of  money.  Was  it  not  the  master 
passion,  the  engrossing  desire  of  his  own  soul  to  make  himself, 
by  some  means  or  another,  rich  ?  Did  he  not  come  to  Califor- 


188  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

nia  with  that  passion,  that  desire,  paramount  as  the  end-all,  if 
not  altogether  the  be-all,  of  his  aspirations  ?  How  unworthy, 
then,  to  blame  Virginia  for  at  most  sympathizing  with  what  she 
knew  to  occupy  so  large  a  place  in  his  thoughts.  It  must  be 
unworthy,  it  must  be  unjust ;  and  yet  why  did  he  find  himself 
continually  indulging  in  such  covert  censure  ?  He  often  asked 
himself  the  question.  But  it  did  not  occur  to  him,  introspect 
ive  as  was  his  nature,  that  the  reason  lay  in  the  fact  that  he  had 
changed  and  she  had  not 

And  Marian,  who  had  wrought  this  change  in  all  honor  and 
purity  of  intention,  so  far  as  wishing  the  young  man  to  set  up 
for  himself  higher  standards,  to  aim  at  a  loftier  ambition  ;  Ma 
rian,  who  had  earnestly  hoped  to  be  instrumental  in  forwarding 
Virginia's  happiness  through  elevating  the  character  of  her  affi 
anced,  had  unwittingly  done  more  than  she  had  proposed  ;  more 
than  would  have  sufficed,  had  she  gained  a  premonitory  glimpse 
of  it,  to  have  made  her  flee  away  from  Armstrong's  Bar  long 
before  she  did  so.  For  Marian's  self-respect,  unconventional 
though  she  might  be,  was  of  that  nice  and  delicate  character 
which  shrinks  from  the  bare  suspicion  of  a  taint,  which  cannot 
continue  w^hat  it  is,  and  yet  permit  its  owner,  by  any  possibil 
ity,  to  find  a  pleasure  through  another's  pain.  No  ;  she  had  no 
mistrust,  not  the  faintest,  that  she  was  doing  any  wrong  to  Vir 
ginia  by  the  alienation  of  GifFord's  feelings.  There  were  two 
strong  bars  against  the  passage  of  such  a  suspicion ;  the  one 
was  her  own  remarkable  freedom  from  personal  vanity,  the  other 
the  self-contained  and  reserved  nature  of  Gifford  himself. 

For  my  part — familiar  as  I  am  and  have  been  with  all  the  cir 
cumstances — I  am  afraid  that,  with  the  usual  perversity  of  hu 
manity,  Gifford  fell  in  love  with  Marian  011  the  same  night  that 
he  saw  poor  Luke  put  her  little  Testament  over  against  his 
heart.  I  do  not  like  Hugh  any  the  better  for  the  thought ;  and 
yet  why  should  we  be  uncharitable,  if  love  really  is,  as  they  say, 
so  despotic  that  the  feelings  of  those  he  rules  are  absolutely  in 
voluntary  ?  But  acts  may  be  controlled,  I  am  informed,  if  feel 
ings  cannot  be  ;  and  it  was  just  their  acts  that  both  Hugh  and 
Marian,  each  unbeknown  to  the  other,  had  been  stoutly  control 
ling. 

Marian  left  the  Bar  on  the  Monday  which  followed  that  dole 
ful  Saturday  night  when  the  robbery  was  discovered  which  made 
her  friends  all  poor  again.  After  the  first  outburst  of  indigna 
tion  and  disappointment,  the  miners  had  come  to  the  only  sen 
sible  determination  which  seemed  open  to  them  ;  that  is  to  say, 
to  go  quietly  to  work  and  retrieve  their  loss.  As  has  been  seen, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  189 

pursuit  was  useless  ;  so  for  the  present,  at  least,  the  ingenious 
Pangburn  was  left  to  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  his  ill-gotten 
gains.  To  prove  a  case  in  the  Atlantic  States  would  have  in 
volved  great  expense  and  difficulty,  even  supposing  the  culprit 
were  apprehended  there.  But  if  he  had  eschewed  Utica,  as  he 
declared  his  intention  of  doing,  who  should  tell  in  what  Troy, 
Athens,  Thebes,  Rome,  or  Paradise  Centre,  the  erring  steps  of 
the  despoiler  were  to  be  traced  ? 

Even  the  method  of  the  burglary  remained  a  mystery ;  for 
although  poor  Ichabod  confessed  the  device  whereby  he  had 
been  induced  to  quit  the  cabin  for  a  space  long  enough  to  carry 
it  out,  no  one  except  the  perpetrator  could  explain  its  details : 
which,  moreover,  were  held  to  be  of  little  consequence  since  the 
deed  was  done,  unless  to  teach  the  propriety  of  greater  caution 
for  the  future. 

Marian  went  to  the  town,  and  a  few  days  afterward  I  followed 
her  thither.  Urgent  business  obliged  my  presence  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  but,  in  truth,  I  had  grown  weary  of  mining  ;  and  in  leav 
ing  had  made  arrangements  to  provide  a  substitute  who  should 
supply  my  place  upon  the  same  terms.  It  was  my  hope  to  have 
been  of  some  service  to  Marian  in  finding  her  a  position  as  gov 
erness  or  teacher,  such  as  I  knew  she  desired  to  procure.  But 
on  arriving  I  learned  that  the  service  was  unnecessary  ;  she  had 
already  obtained  a  situation  in  a  French  family,  where  her  know 
ledge  of  the  language  was  of  peculiar  advantage.  There  were 
three  children,  all  girls,  to  supervise  ;  the  mother  being  an  in 
valid,  and  the  father,  a  quiet,  sagacious  Lyonnaise  of  fifty,  the 
only  one  of  the  family  who  spoke  English.  The  conditions  of 
demand  and  supply  in  the  San  Franciscan  market  for  competent 
governesses  who  could  speak  French  were  fortunately  such  as 
to  preclude  the  necessity  for  references  ;  and  as  the  engagement 
was  only  from  month  to  month — to  enable  Marian  to  depart 
when  she  might  hear  from  her  European  correspondent — all  par 
ties  were  well  satisfied. 

Marian  had  kept  her  word  as  to  acquainting  Hugh  with  the 
time  of  her  departure,  and  he  could  not  resist  coming  to  bid  her 
farewell.  There  were,  as  we  have  seen,  other  excuses  for  his 
coming :  gold  to  be  brought  down  to  bank,  purchases  to  be 
made  for  the  colony — reasons  enough  for  the  journey ;  but  it 
is  certain  some  one  else  would  have  been  the  Doctor's  companion 
had  it  not  been  for  the  all-important  one.  Not  but  Gifford  was 
rather  partial  to  the  former's  society,  and.  since  Marian's  depart 
ure,  sought  it  more  frequently  than  that  of  any  one  else  :  but  it 
was  not  necessary  to  come  to  San  Francisco  in  order  to  enjoy  it. 


1 90  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

It  was  on  a  Sunday  morning  that  they  arrived,  but  the  shops 
were  open,  the  gamblers  in  full  blast,  and  few,  indeed,  if  any,  of 
the  signs  could  be  seen  usual  in  Christian  communities  as  mark 
ing  the  day  of  rest.  His  companion  went  at  once  to  procure 
some  drugs  and  chemicals  he  required,  and  Hugh  made  his  way 
to  the  residence  of  M.  Bellot ;  rather  a  distinguished  mansion  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  town,  with  some  attempt  at  flowers  and 
shrubbery  about  it.  As  the  site  of  San  Francisco  then  consisted 
almost  exclusively  of  shifting  sandhills,  these  surroundings  of 
themselves  gave  the  house  an  air  of  distinction ;  and  when  Hugh 
passed  through  the  gate  and  ascended  the  steps  leading  to  the 
hall-door,  the  perfume  of  some  creeping  shrubs,  being  like  oth 
ers  at  Armstrong's  Bar,  reminded  him  so  forcibly  of  Marian  that 
his  breath  came  short,  and  his  hand  shook  a  little  as  he  rang  for 
admittance.  The  bell — for  knockers  were  as  rare  in  San  Fran 
cisco  as  in  most  American  towns — sounded  sharply  through  the 
house,  and  gave  a  presage  of  emptiness  which,  so  far  as  the  vis 
itor's  hopes  were  concerned,  was  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  Miss 
Rooke  had  gone  with  the  three  demoiselles  to  Oakland,  in  Con- 
tracosta.  M.  Bellot  had  a  brother  there,  and  all  the  family  ex 
cept  Madame  had  gone  on  Saturday  to  be  present  at  a  sort  of 
fete  which  was  partly  complimentary  to  Miss  Rooke,  who  was  so 
soon  to  depart  to  their  great  regret ;  and  they  were  expected  to 
return  to-morrow.  With  this  unwelcome  intelligence  Hugh 
turned  away,  and,  woefully  disappointed,  retraced  his  steps  into 
the  heart  of  the  city. 

He  wandered  listlessly  down  into  the  open  space  which  the 
first  new-comers  among  the  Anglo-Americans  had  essayed  to 
change  from  "  The  Plaza  "  into  "  Portsmouth  Square,"  but — a 
notable  instance  of  the  refusal  of  an  ancient  cognomen  to  give  place 
to  a  new  and  foreign  one — unsuccessfully.  For  people  would 
call  the  spot  "The  Plaza  "  in  1850,  and  although  it  then  was,  as 
it  may  still  be,  known  on  the  city  maps  as  "  Portsmouth  Square," 
it  got  the  name  nowhere  else.  This  "  Plaza,"  then,  formerly  en 
closed  by  one-storied  houses  of  adobe,  several  of  which,  in  the 
days  we  write  of,  still  remained,  was  now  enriched  by  buildings 
of  a  remarkable  and  unique  style  of  architecture.  The  materi 
als  were  chiefly  pine  boards  and  cotton  canvas,  the  dimensions 
very  large,  and  the  general  exterior  effect,  save  in  the  matter  cf 
size,  not  over  imposing.  The  facades  consisted  almost  entirely 
of  doors  surmounted  by  painted  signs,  such  as  "El  Dorado," 
"  Bella  Union,"  &c.,  being  the  names  whereby  the  respective 
proprietors  wished  their  establishments  to  be  known.  Inside  of 
these  establishments  was  seen  one  vast  hall,  the  area  being  usu- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  191 

ally  left  unpartitionecl.  But  although  there  was  little  color  or  re 
lief  for  the  eye  in  the  signs  and  flags  which  alone  broke  the  mo 
notonous  white  of  their  outsides,  the  interiors  of  these  strange 
edifices  were  far  different,  and  by  no  means  open  to  such  a  re 
proach.  Here  were  enormous  mirrors  covering  the  walls  on  all 
sides,  only  alternating  now  and  then  with  huge  oil  paintings  of 
high  colors  and  equivocal  subjects.  Cut-glass  chandeliers  which, 
at  night,  gave  the  light  of  day,  shimmered  and  glittered  in  ev 
ery  direction.  On  one  side  ran  a  long  counter  or  bar,  where 
numbers  of  attendants  were  constantly  engaged  ;  while  behind 
them  were  piled  glasses,  and  decanters,  and  bottles,  and  pitch 
ers  of  all  imaginable  shapes  and  hues.  These  sparkling  objects, 
reflected  by  mirrors  behind  them,  added  to  the  general  brilliancy 
of  the  scene,  while  hundreds  of  figures  moving  restlessly  about, 
many  of  them  wearing  the  then  predominant  red  flannel  shirt  as 
an  outer  garment,  with  slouched  hats  and  long  boots,  with  here 
and  there  the  gaudy  Mexican  serape,  gave  an  effect  truly  sur 
prising  to  an  eye  accustomed  only  to  the  more  common  sights 
of  modern  civilization. 

For  the  rest,  the  hall  was  filled  with  gaming-tables  ;  tables  of 
all  shapes  and  sizes  for  all  sorts  of  games  ;  tables  for  faro,  tables 
for  monte,  tables  for  roulette,  tables  for  vingt-et-un,  tables  for 
rouge-et-noir ;  tables  where  the  dealers  were  Americans,  Eng 
lishmen.  Mexicans.  Frenchmen,  Jews,  and  women — few,  hap 
pily,  of  the  latter — indiscriminately  mixed,  all  cool  and  industri 
ous,  and  all  well  patronized. 

Into  such  a  pandemonium  did  Hugh  Giffbrd  find  his  way, 
staring  at  the  sights,  confused  by  the  sounds,  and  instinctively 
comparing  each  with  the  sober-looking  people  and  the  quiet 
church  bells,  wherewith  the  Sabbath  morning  was  associated  in 
all  his  past  memories.  What  an  extraordinary  society — what 
extraordinary  habits — had  the  gold  discovery  all  of  a  sudden 
conjured  up,  as  dragon's  teeth  brought  from  the  earth  armed  men 

Every  moment  men  came  trooping  in,  evidently  fresh  from 
the  mines,  their  faces  worn  with  toil  and  exposure,  their  gar 
ments  dirt-stained  and  often  in  fragments,  and  who  went  straight 
to  the  faro  table,  staked  their  bag  of  precious  dust  on  the  turn 
of  a  single  card,  lost  or  won  with  the  same  imperturbability,  and 
stalked  out  again.  It  was  not  customary  at  this  time  to  ex 
amine  the  contents  of  such  bags ;  that  would  have  taken  too 
much  time,  and  hurt  the  business  by  suggesting  a  suspicion  per 
haps  of  the  integrity  of  the  owner.  *  The  card  was  turned,  and. 
if  the  bank  lost,  the  dust  was  promptly  weighed,  and  its  equiva 
lent  handed  over  hi  kind  or  in  gold  coin  ;  "if  the  bank  won,  the 


192  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

bag  was  callously,  and;  generally  without  inspection,  cast  in 
among  the  rouleux  and  loose  treasure  of  the  concern,  which 
were  contained  in  a  box  within  easy  reach  of  the  dealer.  Many 
sat  at  the  tables  from  morning  till  night,  now  winning,  now  los 
ing,  but  in  either  case  unwilling  or  unable  to  tear  themselves  a  way 
from  the  fascination.  These  people  were  commonly  very  taci 
turn  ;  indeed,  any  audible  expression  of  feeling  respecting  the 
play  was  unusual  ;  so  that,  with  the  exception  of  an  occasional 
Spanish  oath  and  the  unceasing  chink  of  coin  and  shuffling  of 
cards,  the  vicinage  of  the  tables  was  comparatively  quiet. 

Not  so,  however,  the  bar,  where  there  was  an  endless  roar  of 
shoutings,  cursings,  and  boisterous  recognitions.  Men  were  con 
tinually  meeting  for  the  first  time  since  separating  in  "  the  States," 
and  signalizing  the  occasion  as  if  from  the  deck  of  a  ship.  Po 
litical  talk,  friendly  talk,  gambling  talk,  and  drunken  talk  unit 
ed  in  the  charming  medley,  and  swelled  its  discordant  climax  to 
the  very  echo.  Among  those  who  were  the  loudest,  the  biggest, 
and  perhaps  the  tipsiest  of  the  most  conspicuous  group  in  the  sa 
loon,  Gifford  remarked  a  red  man,  with  a  round  face  and  golden 
hair  which  stuck  in  shreds  and  patches  to  his  perspiring  forehead. 
He  wore  a  white  hat,  which  was  pushed  far  back,  and  a  huge 
diamond  sun  in  his  bosom,  almost  as  wide  as  a  dollar.  His 
clothes  consisted  of  a  suit  of  a  vast  pattern  in  green  and  black 
checks,  and  he  had  a  large  red  silk  pocket  handkerchief  which  he 
occasionally  filliped  in  playful  manner  into  the  faces  of  his  more 
distant  interlocutors  at  the  bar.  This  gentleman  was  declaim 
ing  in  a  heated  key,  and  appeared  to  be  regarded  with  great  de 
ference  and  admiration,  not  only  by  the  bar-keepers,  but  by  the 
crowd  around  him. 

While  Hugh  was  regarding  this  group  and  trying  to  catch  the 
signification  of  some  of  the  words  of  wisdom  which  were  falling 
from  its  vociferous  centre,  he  felt  his  hat  slightly  tipped  over  his 
eyes  from  behind,  and,  turning  to  see  who  had  adopted  this  del 
icate,  but  not  unusual,  method  of  salutation,  found  at  his  elbow 
Mr.  Sloper. 

"  I'll  liquor  with  you  this  time,"  said  the  latter,  as  if  pursuing 
a  previous  conversation.  "  I've  been  a  buckin',  and  I  hain't  got 
no  more  change  'n  the  law  allows." 

"  Cleaned  out,  eh  f  said  Hugh,  recognizing  the  force  of  the 
invitation,  as  they  made  their  wray  to  the  bar. 

"Can't  say  I'm  exactly  cleaned  out,  since  I've  got  one  thou 
sand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-six  cigars,"  returned  Lafayette  ; 
"  five  I  guv  away,  and  nineteen  I  smoked  last  night.  Try  one  ; 
they  ah*  A.I,  and  no  discount." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FOBTUKE.  193 

*    "I  wasn't  aware,"  said  Hugh,  accepting  the  offer,  "that  you 
dealt  in  the  article." 

"No  more  I  didn't  till  arter  you  turned  in  last  night.  Then 
I  run  agin  a  cuss  who  had  three  thousand  cigars,  and  ne'er  a  red 
besides^  bein'  played  out  chasin'  the  eagle  'board  the  boat.  I 
had  three  hundred  dollars,  and  his  Havanas  was  worth  more 
rather  than  less.  So  we  jest  went  in  for  a  little  plain  poker  to 
pass  away  time.  We  played  till  daylight  and  was  jest  even. 
We  took  a  hand  for  the  very  last,  and  he  drawed  a  good  un. 
He  bet  a  clean  thousand  o'  them  weeds,  and  I  see  'em  and  went 
two  slugs  better  $  he  seed  'em  and  went  a  thousand  better  'n  me. 
I  called,  and  he  laid  down  three  aces  and  two  kings ;  I  slung 
four  dooses  atop  on  'em,  and  raked  down  the  pile." 

"  So  that  you're  now  so  much  the  richer  ?'' 

"  Xe'er  a  time.  I  sold  a  thousand  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  this  'ere  chap  who  keeps  the  den  ;  and  I've  lost  four  hundred 
and  more  in  his  darned  old  Pharaoh  bank  since  breakfast;  that's 
so." 

••Well,"  said  Hugh,  doubtfully,  "don't  you  think  it  about 
time  to  knock  off?" 

"Not  in  these  boots,  I  don't.  I'm  playin'  for  even  now.  and 
even  I'm  a  goin'  to  be.  A  squeeze  more  bitters  in  that  'ere  cock 
tail,  young  man.  I  hain't  had  drinks  enough  yit."  continued  Mr. 
Sloper,  sternly,  "to  feel  riled.  I've  got  to  git  my  dander  up, 
and  then  you'll  see  the  har  fly.  D'ye  know  that  man  ye  was 
looking  at  jest  now?" 

••Xo." 

"Xo!"  repeated  the  other,  turning  his  profile  toward  Hugh, 
and  fixing  one  keen  eye  reprovingly  upon  him.  * '  Don't  know 
that  aii*  man!  Why,  he's  a  Californian  Instertooshun,  he  is. 
He's  one  of  the  gol-darndest,  hull-hoggest,  out-and-out  screamers 
that  ever  drunk  whiskey  1  Why,  he's  the  man  that  killed  Hank 
Swett  for  takin'  the  copper  off  his  parlee  and  the  last  card  in,  at 
old  Deaf  Dan's  bank,  up  to  Stockton!  I'll  tell  ye  what," 
said  Sloper,  with  fierce  resolution,  "  I'll  put  ye  through!" 

"Don't!"  said  Hugh,  at  a  hazard. 

"Yes,  I  will  Why,"  he  added,  seizing  Hugh's  shoulder, 
and  gripping  it  hard  as  if  to  nerve  him  to  bear  what  was  to 
follow,  ''that  ere  h-a-o-wling  oriator  is  Judge  Skewer!" 

"Judge  Skewer !" 

"Achilles  McGaw  O'Rafferty  Skewer,"  said  Lafayette,  leaning 
back  a  little  to  watch  the  effect  of  his  announcement.  "  Guess 
ye  know  who  he  is  now,  don't  ye  ?" 

"  I  confess  I " 

9 


194  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"Say  no  more,"  cried  Sloper,  authoritatively.  "I'll  put  ye 
through !"  And  he  darted  off  with  the  apparent  design  to 
carry  his  mysterious  threat  into  effect.  As  quickly,  however,  he 
returned,  and  whispering  hurriedly,  "Don't  say  anythink  to  him 
'bout  Hank  Swett;  he's  easy  het,  and  p'raps  he  might  knife  ye, 
ye  know !"  disappeared  again. 

"I  say,"  exclaimed  Hugh,  in  some  dismay;  "don't!  Hold 
on !  I'd  rather  not,  whatever  it  is !"  But  expostulation  was  use 
less,  for  Sloper  was  already  achieving  his  purpose. 

Presently  he  was  seen  wriggling  and  plunging  through  the 
crowd,  and  to  force  his  way  toward  the  man  with  the  white  hat 
and  the  golden  hair.  That  person  was  just  in  the  act  of  tak 
ing  his  fifth  drink  without  stirring  from  the  spot,  and  his  back 
was  turned  for  the  moment  to  Mr.  Sloper.  The  latter  now 
seized  the  drinker  firmly  round  the  waist,  from  behind,  and 
dragged  him  backwards  through  the  crowd  to  where  Gifford  was 
standing. 

"  Quit !"  roared  the  Judge.  "  Who  is't  ?  Let  up,  or  I'll  open 
daylight  inter  yer !" 

But  his  assailant  whispered  a  cabalistic  word  in  his  ear,  and 
he  continued,  in  the  same  breath,  while  he  was  released  and 
faced  about : 

"  Why,  Lafe  !  You  here  1  What  in •  fetched  you  down 

from  up  country  ?" 

Lafe  made  a  significant  gesture. 

"Broke,  ah-  ye?  Quiere  Oro?  Well,  now,  if  you  want  a 
hundred " 

"No,  I  don't,  Judge.  I  kin  kerry  sail  so  fur,  and  when  I 
can't  I'll  let  ye  know.  I  jest  wanted  t'  interdoose  ye  to  a  friend 
o'  mine.  Judge  Skewer,  Cap' en  Giffurd;  Cap' en  Giffurd, 
Judge  Skewer." 

"How  air  you?"  inquired  the  Judge,  with  great  interest. 
"How  do  you  find  yourself  now  ?  Take  somethink'?  We're 
all  a  takin'  somethink.  Come,  Lafe,  replenish,  and  let  the  nowin' 
bowl  go  round!" 

With  this  the  Judge  finished  his  glass  at  a  gulp,  and  imme 
diately  ordered  another,  insisting  that  his  companions  should  do 
the  like.  While  these  refreshments  were  in  preparation,  he 
caught  sight  of  a  large  bowl,  or  ewer,  filled  with  broken  frag 
ments  of  ice,  with  which  he  now  began  slyly  to  pelt  the  party 
he  had  just  quitted,  watching  the  results  of  his  shots  in  the 
opposite  mirror. 

"The  boys  is  havin'  a  lively  time  here  to-day,"  continued 
Judge  Skewer,  juicily,  "Not  but  that  the  festive  scene's  pooty 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  195 

reg'lar  ;  only  there's  more  o'  the  old  stiff  drinkers  round  than 
usual.  Where  did  you  say  you  come  from,  Cap'en  Gifford  ?" 

Hugh  hadn't  said,  but  he  now  admitted  that  he  hailed  from 
Massachusetts. 

"  DrefFul  sot  up  State,  ain't  it?  Good  many  nice  boys,  tho'. 
come  from  there  ;  too  darned  pooritanical  for  'em  to  home,  I 
reckon.  We  don't  hev  nuthin'  o'  that  kind  here.  Gents,  I'm 
lookin'  at  yer  !" 

"Ah*  you  a  runnin',  Judge  ?"  queried  Sloper,  mysteriously. 

li  I  am  that.  And  I'm  a  goin'  to  keep  on  till  I  run  all  these 
'ere  scallywags  off  the  track.  I  ain't  a  goin'  to  be  bought  off  this 
time  with  no  ten  thousand  and  a  sheer  in  Jim  Docket's  bank. 
I  tell  yer,"  he  continued,  confidentially,  "I'm  a  goin'  to  stick  to 
my  friends  from  the  word  '  Go ! '  Kin  you  stump-speak  some, 
Cap'en  ?" 

Hugh  didn't  know,  he  -had  never  tried  ;  but  as  he  had  some- 
tunes  addressed  juries,  he  thought  he  might. 

"  You  air  the  bone  and  sinoo,  you  young  men  ah',"  said  the 
Judge,  pressing  Gifford's  hand  with  great  feeling  and  urbanity, 
"  you  air  the  bone  and  sinoo,  who  yer  country  looks  to  keep  her 
eeud  up,  and  cement  her  power.  I'll  bet  somethink  on  you,  I 
will  1  and  I'm  goin'  to  make  a  lofty  pile  I  Where' d  you  say 
you'd  been  a  minin'  of,  Cap'en  ?" 

Hugh  mentioned  the  name  of  Armstrong's  Bar. 

"  Armstrong's  Bar  !  I've  heerd  on't  as  a  place  risin'  fast  in 
wealth  and  consequence.  Fill  up,  Lafe.  You're  kinder  shirkin' 
yer  rum,  you  air  !  Fourteen  drops  for  you,  Cap'en  ?  Why, 
that  wouldn't  drown  a  fly  !  What  I  was  goin'  to  let  on,  gen 
tlemen,  was  that  we  air  expectin'  a  time  ! " 

"  A  reg'lar  time  ?"'  suggested  Mr.  Sloper,  sippinghis  whiskey. 

"Better — a  darned  sight  better.  You'd  oughter  'f  heerd  that 
Tom  Flyer  has  jest  arrived  from  York,  and  was  tearin'  about  last 
night  as  blue  as  a  razor  !  and  Yankee  Bullyman,  and  Sydney 
Bob,  and  Belcher  Gay,  and  some  more  o'  the  '  sports  ;  they  feel 
like  givin'  him  a  turn  ;  and  he's  got  a  strong  gang  with  him, 
Tom  has,  and  I  reckon  he's  the  wuss  man  to  tackle  in  the  world, 
lettin'  bowies  and  sixshooters  alone  ;  so  if  these  here  Ducks  and 
his  crowd  fall  together  we  air  expectin'  a  time  1" 

"  I  hain't  seen  a  real  square  old  scrimmage,"  said  Lafayette 
sorrowfully,  "  for  more'n  three  months.  Not,  candidways.  since 
them  curus  capers  to  Beneshy,  when  Pony  Lazarous  sliced  off 
Johnny  Fargo's  nose." 

;i  Ah  !"  said  the  Judge  sympathetically.  "  them  was  gay  old 
times.  N othin'  but  champagne  cocktails  and  Pharaoh  and  free 


196  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

fights,  from  night  till  morn  and  morn  till  dooey  eve  !  But,"  he 
continued  reassuringly,  "  I  do  actooally  b'lieve  we  shall  have  a 
time  with  these  'ere  roughs  nigh  as  good's  any  o'  the  old-fash 
ioned  ones.  How  much  dust  did  you  say  you  fetched  down  from 
the  Bar,  Cap'en  ?" 

Hugh's  reply  was  drowned  in  the  sudden  and  unexpected  rush 
of  the  Judge's  late  boon  companions,  who,  impatient  at  his  pro 
tracted  absence,  now  burst  into  the  circle  with  mingling  yells, 
the  moat  intelligible  purport  of  which  seemed  to  be  that  there 
was  too  much  talkin'  between  drinks,  and  that  they  see  him  fire 
that  last  hunk  of  ice. 

"  Hold  on  now,  gents,  hold  on,"  cried  the  Judge  with  digni 
ty,  and  stilling  the  uproar  with  a  Demosthenean  wave  of  the 
hand,  "  allow  me.  Permit  me  to  introdoose — -Sheriff  Mayhem, 
Cap'en  Gifford  ;  brandy  straight  for  me,  what's  your'n,  Sheriff? 
This  here  is  our  Surrogate,  Malachi  Gallus,  Major  Gifford  ;  gin 
cocktail.  Charley,  with  a  very  little  sugar.  Mr.  McCracken,  per 
mit  me  to  introdoose — Mr.  McCracken,  the  great  pool  player, 
Kurnel  Gifford.  Two  more  brandies,  Charles.  I  beg  your  par- 
ding,  I'm  sure.  This  is  the  honored  Chief  of  our  Fire  Depart 
ment  and  former  vanquisher  of  the  'Lancashire  Chicken'  and 
the  'Lily  of  the  Valley  ;'  Mr.  Samson  Adder,  this  is  my  esteem 
ed  friend,  General  Gifford.  Air  you  all  ready  ?  If  so,  fire  !" 

Messrs.  Mayhem,  Gallus,  McCracken,  and  Adder,  all  smelling 
horribly  of  spirits,  shook  Gifford' s  hand  in  succession  with  tre 
mendous  energy,  and  being  supplied  with  fresh  glasses  of  their 
favorite  stimulants,  tossed  them  off  with  a  hasty  formula  that 
sounded  very  like  "  Success  to  crime." 

"General  Gifford's  one  of  my  boys,"  announced  Judge  Skew 
er,  who  by  this  time  had  passed  his  arm  affectionately  round 
Hugh's  neck,  "and  bein'  a  stranger  to  this  'ere  praowd  taown — 
unbeknown,  as  I  may  say,  to  these  halls  of  dazzlin'  light,  I'm  a 
goin'  to  show  him  the  elephant.  My  intellectooal  feller  citizen 
Lafayette  Sloper  is,  I  believe,  well  known  among  ye.  We  air 
expectin'.a  time,  and  until  it  comes,  all  I  kin  say  is,  drink  hearty 
and  vote  for  Skewer  !" 

This  sentiment  was  received  with  much  applause,  and  those 
unqualified  endorsements  which  were  forthcoming  as  often  as  the 
Judge  paid  for  the  drinks ;  but  excitement  was  greatly  augment 
ed  when  Mr.  Sloper  returned  from  the  door,  whither  he  had  gone 
for  a  moment,  and,  with  as  gratified  an  expression  as  his  satur 
nine  features  were  capable  of,  said  : 

"  The  Ducks  air  a  comin'  !" 

"  Ye   don't  say  so  !     Where  d'ye  s'pose  Tom's  party  air  ? 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  107 

Now  there'll  be  fun,  and  no  mistake  I"  broke  delightedly  from 
different  members  of  the  group,  as  a  fresh  drink  was  proposed 
in  honor  of  the  bearer  of  the  happy  tidings. 

"But,  Lafe,"  suggested  the  Judge  anxiously,  "there's  no 
tellin'  for  sure  that  Tom  and  the  York  boys  '11  happen  along  jest 
at  the  right  minute.  Wouldn't  it  pay  to  kind  o'  slip  round  taown 
and  let  'em  know  where  these  Ducks  is?" 

"'Taint  no  use,"  replied  Lafe;  "the  trap's  all  sot.  They 
know  jest  as  well  as  we  do  where  the  Ducks  hang  aout. 
You  see  now,  there'll  be  the  allfiredest,  tearinest,  sweet- 
scented  little  riot  in  'bout  ten  minutes,  ever  skeared  up  this  side 
o'  h ." 

"If  you  think  so,"  remarked  Gilford,  "  don't  you  think  we 
had  better  go  away  ?" 

"Go  away!"  echoed  the  Judge,  wkh  stupefied  amazement. 
"  Go  away  1  What  fur  ?' 

"  What  for  ?  Why,  to%be  safe  out  of  the  row — to  escape  the 
tumult,  to  be  sure." 

"  Escape  the  toomult !  Why,  my  dear  unsophisticated  gene 
ral,  to  see  the  toomult  was  jest  what  we  come  here  for!" 

"/come  here  to  see  a  toomult"  affirmed  Mr.  Sloper,  sternly, 
"and  a  toomult  I'll  have;  or  blood;  and  I  don't  kear  a  darn 
which." 

"Meanin',  naterally,"  said  the  Judge,  "a  good  knock-down 
and  drag-aout  tight.  That's  your  idee,  ain't  it,  Lafe?" 

"  That  was  my  meanin',"  acquiesced  Lafe,  with  acerbity,  for 
the^  notion  of  quitting  any  spot  likely  to  be  the  scene  of  a  row 
was  to  him,  perhaps,  of  almost  all  others,  the  most  senseless  and 
distasteful. 

"If  I  know  merself  intimately,"  continued  Judge  Skewer, 
judicially,  "  and.  this  court  thinks  it  does,  nobody  of  this  'ere 
party  leaves  until  we  see  things  through." 

"There's  too  much  talkiif  agin,"  observed  the  Sheriff  with  a 
menacing  air,  "  between  drinks.  I  don't  feel  good  yit,  I  don't. 
I  don't  take  kindly  to  my  rum  when  there's  sech  a  heap  o'  cacklin', 
I  don't.  Charles,  we  air  a  repeatin'!" 

At  this  point  a  great  hubbub  arose  near  the  doors,  and  pres 
ently  the  crowd  rolled  back  and  opened  a  way  to  the  bar  for 
the  choice  spirits  termed  by  Sloper  the  "Ducks."  They  con 
sisted,  to  speak  plainly,  of  the  very  elite  of  the  reckless  and  tur 
bulent  fighting  men,  or  more  commonly,  "  shoulder  strikers."  to 
be  found  in.  California.  In  the  wild  and  lawless  society  which 
then  existed,  this  class  of  ruffians  were  highly  important  and  in 
fluential.  Almost  any  one  who  became  prominent,  either  as  a 


198  .      .        MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

political  candidate,  a  tavern  or  saloon  keeper,  a  proprietor  of 
gambling  rooms,  or  the  like,  found  it  necessary  to  propitiate,  if 
not  to  directly  subsidize,  this  crew,  under  pain  of  defeat,  failure, 
or  even  personal  molestation.  Wherever  they  went,  then,  they 
were  received  with  affected  if  not  real  cordiality  and  joy  ;  and 
their  capacity  at  once  for  pommelling  and  robbing  stood  them 
in  as  good  stead  as  did  ever  similar  repute  the  moss  troopers  or 
black  mailers  of  old. 

Just  at  present  their  reign  seemed  likely  to  be  disputed,  and 
their  prestige  to  be  impaired  by  fresh  arrivals  from  the  Atlantic 
States.  A  deputation  of  notable  prize-fighters,  headed  by  a  ce 
lebrity  famous  for  winning  a  recent  desperate  battle  against  a 
hitherto  invincible  opponent,  had  landed  from  the  last  steamer, 
and,  after  reconnoitring  their  ground,  had  coolly  announced  a 
determination  to  "  clean  out "  and  supplant  the  autocrats  now 
holding  undivided  sway.  This  was  barely  a  day  or  two  before, 
and  furnished  reason  for  the  profound  interest  in  forthcoming 
events  expressed  by  Skewer.  Sloper  &  Co.  Certainly  no  regime 
could  be  worse  than  that  of  the  desperadoes  in  power.  Several 
among  them  had  been  transported  from  Great  Britain  for  divers 
felonies,  and  their  general  moral  tone  was  far  below  the  average 
of  even  their  questionable  kidney.  On  the  other  hand,  the  new 
comers,  although  indubitably  of  the  "fancy,"  were  men  who 
had  never  been  charged  with  crime ;  and  although  there  might 
not  have  been  much  to  choose  between  the  factions  so  far  as  their 
disposition  towards  fighting  and  riotous  living  were  concerned, 
the  strangers  had  beyond  question  the  cleanest  hands,  and  in 
view  of  their  records  were  most  likely  to  keep  them  so.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add,  for  the  information  of  those  familiar 
with  the  material  of  the  dangerous  classes  in  America,  that  the 
horde  in  possession  were  chiefly  foreigners,  and  that  the  arrivals 
were  almost  all  native-born. 

The  party  which  now  swaggered  into  the  hall  were  for  the 
most  part  very  expensively  dressed,  their  brawny  shoulders  being 
cased  in  glossy  broadcloth,  and  their  inflamed,  bull-dog-looking 
faces  surmounted  by  irreproachable  castors.  They  all  had  ex 
aggerated  cerebellums,  heavy  jaw-bones,  flinty  brows,  and  defiant 
expressions.  There  appeared  to  be  a  dozen  or  fifteen  of  them, 
and  as  the  crowd  parted  with  respectful  deference  to  allow  their 
passage  to  the  bar,  they  evidently  accepted  the  homage  as  rightly 
due  to  the  importance  and  dignity  of  their  social  position.  They 
were  talking  and  gesticulating  with  great  excitement  and  energy, 
and  they  ordered  champagne,  several  bottles  of  which  were 
promptly  opened  for  their  use.  Gilford  remarked,  however, 


THE  QUEST  FOK  FORTUNE.  109 

that  none  of  their  number  even  offered  to  pay  for  it,  and  men 
tioned  the  omission  in  an  undertone  to  Sloper. 

u  If  they  was  to  ask  one  o'  them  thar  Ducks  for  pay."  ex 
plained  the  worthy,  "  the  house  'd  jest  come  down  in  about  ten 
minutes.  They  air  on  the  fightin'  lay,  they  air,  and  they  travel 
on  their  shape." 

"  But,"  urged  Hugh,  "  surely  there  must  be  some  law,  some 
authority  to  protect  people  in  the  possession  of  their  property  ?" 

"  If  any  judge  was  to  go  back  on  them  thar  Ducks  he'd  jest 
git  voted  out  of  office  so  quick  'twould  make  his  head  swim." 

"We  must  allow,  then,  that  this  is  a  very  bad  state  of  so 
ciety." 

"1  reckon  ye'd  better  not  bile  over  on  our  glorious  inster- 
tooshuns,"  retorted  Laihyette,  turning  one  eye  with  extreme 
suspicion  on  his  interlocutor.  "  If  that  thar  Britisher  you're 
travellin'  with  has  inocoolated  ye  with  the  pison  out  o'  that  rot 
ten  old  hum  o'  his'n,  you'd  best  not  show  it  where  the  Ducks  is. 
The  Ducks  is  awful  sot  agin  praoud  old  aristocracies  ;  that's  so ; 
and  they  strike  out  awful  bitter  when  they  git  riled." 

Hugh  promised  to  keep  their  propensities  under  consideration, 
as  in  all  prudence  became  him,  explaining,  meanwhile,  to  the 
incredulous  Sloper  that  his  criticism  bore  only  a  local  and  tem 
porary  application,  which,  although  perhaps  it  might  be  offen 
sive  to  the  Ducks,  need  not  necessarily  be  so  to  any  other  pa 
triot  whatever.  Pending  this  elucidation  a  tremendous  howl 
without,  followed  by  a  hasty  scrambling  together  of  their  gold 
and  dust  on  the  part  of  the  ";  bankers"  nearest  the  doors,  gave 
signal  that  some  fresh  incident  was  about  to  transpire. 

"'  It's  the  York  boys,"  cried  Judge  Skewer,  rubbing  his  hands 
in  ecstasy ;  ';  it's  Tom  and  the  York  boys.  I  know'd  they'd  come. 
Let's  take  a  drink  for  the  very  last,  and  then,  gents,  stand  by  for 
squalls.  Gineral  Gifford,  you  jest  freeze  close  to  me,  for  bein' 
in.  allers,  with  both  gangs,  I  don't  jine  either  too  pop'lar  till  I 
see  Avhich  licks  1" 

"  Hooray  I"  roared  Mayhem,  Gallus,  McCracken,  and  Adder, 
in  unison.  "  Hooray  for  them  as  licks  I" 

With  a  roar  of  sound  like  so  many  wild  animals  suddenly  let 
loose  from  their  cages,  the  redoubted  Flyer  and  his  followers 
came  tearing,  screeching,  bellowing  into  the  hall.  Nearly  all 
were  in  red  flannel  snirts,  a  distinctive  uniform,  as  it  appeared, 
in  token  of  a  democratic  uprising  against  the  hierarchy  of  the 
Ducks.  There  was  a  perfect  Babel  of  oaths,  execrations,  ques 
tions,  replies,  and  giving  of  the  lie  ;  but  where  fifty  voices  were 
speaking  together,  and  at  their  utmost  tension,  it  was  idle  even 


200  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

to  try  to  get  at  the  purport  of  their  speech.  There  was  a  bran 
dishing  of  gigantic  fists,  a  scattering  on  all  sides  of  the  affrighted 
throng  who  were  not  immediately  of  the  hostile  parties  ;  but  al 
though  every  one  knew  mischief  was  coming,  none  knew  the 
precise  why  or  wherefore.  Short  was  the  parley,  for,  with  the 
rapidity  of  lightning,  a  towering  figure  of  the  "York  boys" 
threw  himself  right  into  the  very  centre  of  the  group  of  Ducks. 
Three  of  them  went  down  almost  instantly  under  this  man's 
sledge-hammer  blows  ;  but  they  were  soon  up  again,  and  then 
the  fight  began  in  downright  earnest.  Every  one  of  the  two 
parties  was  immediately  hotly  engaged.  Over  went  the  tables 
in  every  direction,  and  coin,  and  bags,  and  iyory  checks,  and 
boxes,  rolling  and  tumbling  about  the  floor,  with  their  frantic 
owners  sprawling  and  grasping  after  them,  added  to  the  hideous 
confusion. 

Meanwhile  Judge  Skewer  was  fairly  dancing  with  glee,  and 
the  others  of  his  company,  as  if  the  din  were  insufficient,  roared 
themseles  quite  purple  with  shouts  which  accompanied  and  set 
off  the  row,  as  melodramatic  action  is  illustrated  by  a  "  hurry" 
in  the  orchestra.  By  this  time,  too,  Mr.  Sloper  was  standing  on 
the  bar,  and,  not  content  with  tossing  wine-glasses  and  such  tri 
fles  into  the  struggling  mass,  he  finally,  in  a  fit  of  enthusiasm, 
launched  the  huge  bowl  at  his  feet,  and  which  was  filled  with 
broken  ice,  into  the  very  midst  of  the  combatants.  A  pistol- 
shot  from  some  unknown  hand  instantly  rewarded  this  sally, 
which,  although  it  missed  him,  appeared  to  goad  Lafayette  to 
madness  ;  for  bottles,  tumblers,  all  the  articles  on  the  shelves, 
and  at  last  even  the  stools  behind  the  bar,  were  promptly  em 
ployed  by  him  as  projectiles.  At  the  sound  of  fire-arms,  Judge 
Skewer,  with  extreme  alacrity,  got  over  the  counter  and  packed 
himself  snugly  beneath  it,  inviting  his  companions  to  do  the 
same.  But  Messrs.  Mayhem  and  Adder  had  already  decamped 
for  some  other  place  of  safety ;  while  Messrs.  Gallus  and 
McCracken  had  become  personally  engaged  in  the  combat. 
,  As  for  Gifford,  he  made  a  rush  for  the  door,  whence  he  es- 
|  caped,  leaving  the  day  still  undecided  ;  the  last  object  he  remem 
bered  seeing  in  his  retreat  being  the  lank  form  of  Mr.  Sloper 
standing  on  the  counter,  and,  with  a  countenance  perfectly  im 
movable,  hurling  champagne-bottles  into  the  middle  of  the  fray. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  201 


CHAPTER  III. 

HUGH  thought  he  had  never  seen  Marian  look  so  lovely  as  she 
did  the  next  morning  when  he  called  after  her  return  from  Con- 
tracosta.  Beautiful  in  his  eyes  she  had  ever  been ;  but  the  coarse 
garb  arid  the  commonplace  surroundings  which  were  inevitable 
on  the 'prairies  or  in  the  mines,  if  they  could  not  destroy,  were  ill 
calculated  to  set  off  her  beauty.  Hugh  saw  her  now  for  the  first 
time  under  circumstances  similar  at  least  in  some  respects  to 
those  among  which  she  had  been  born  and  bred.  The  picture 
was  in  something  like  its  proper  frame,  and  was  no  longer  left  to 
depend  exclusively  on  the  delicacy  of  its  outlines  and  the  rich 
ness  of  its  coloring. 

She  wore  a  dress  of  some  Chinese  fabric,  a  pale  lemon  in  hue, 
and  over  this  a  black  net  shawl.  Her  magnificent  black  hair  was 
gathered  in  low.  heavy  folds  to  a  simple  knot  behind,  with  no 
meretricious  convolutions  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  her  pure 
Greek  profile.  The  olive  cheek  was  tinged  with  a  rosy  flush,  set 
ting  off  to  most  bewitching  advantage  the  inky,  long  eyelashes, 
and  the  beautiful  eyes  they  protected  ;  and  the  same  cause  that 
flushed  the  cheek  had  set  the  bust  heaving  in  a  manner  that  no 
less  fair  proportions  could  have  counterfeited.  The  lips,  always 
so  like  coral,  were  as  charming  as  ever ;  the  nose  as  delicate  and 
as  suggestive  of  high  breeding.  The  step  too,  so  light,  so  fawn- 
like  as  it  always  was,  did  not  even  fall  upon  Gifford's  sense,  eager 
as  he  was  to  hear  it,  so  that  indeed  she  had  to  speak  before  he 
knew  of  her  presence. 

Hugh  had  been  shown  into  a  back  drawing-room  rather  richly 
furnished  in  the  French  taster  and  opening  by  windows  which 
descended  to  the  floor  upon  a  vine-shaded  piazza  without. 
Through  these  vines  far  away,  melting  and  fading  into  sky  at  the 
horizon,  stretched  the  blue  Pacific.  :  I  think  most  of  us  regret 
that  gloriously  placid  ocean  who  have  left  it.  as  we  deem,  to  see 
it  no  more.  The  contrast  with  the  angry,  boisterous  Atlantic  is 
so  very  strong,  the  breezes  which  ruffle  its  smooth  surface  are  for 
the  most  part  so  gentle  yet  so  refreshing,  as  compared  with  the 
east  winds  and  dismal  fogs  we  have  known  too  much  of  near 
home,  that  we  sigh  to  think  the  change  was  but  for  a  time,  and 
that  we  have  returned  perforce  to  the  old  inhospitalities.  But 
Hugh's  thoughts  were  not  fixed  on  such  contrasts  as  these.  He 


202  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

was  thinking  in  how  short,  how  very  short  a  time — eight  and 
forty  hours  perchance — Marian  would  be  sailing  away  on  this 
glittering  element,  sailing  away  from  all  those  friends  with  whom 
she  had  crossed  the  plains,  sailing  away  from  him,  Hugh,  on 
whose  life  she  had  wrought  so  great  a  change,  sailing  away  to 
return  no  more  forever! 

Alas  for  human  hopes,  and  human  faith !  Who  of  us  shall 
say  that,  we  will  do  this  or  that — which  shall  dare  to  echo  the 
boast  of  the  impious  conqueror  when  speaking  of  his  purposes, 
•  "Jc  dis  c'cst  moi  qui  propose  et  c'est  moiaussiqui  cKspose,"  in  the  teeth 
of  bitter  experience,  and  knowing  how  inevitably  we  have  each 
our  petty  Moscows  as  a  crown  and  end  of  our  best  digested 
plans,  our  most  cherished  hopes  !  What  schemes,  what  lofty  re 
solves,  what  unalterable  determinations  have  melted,  dissolved, 
vanished  like  wreaths  of  vapor,  before  even  a  tinier  assault  than 
lay  in  those  musical  words  which  broke  at  once  Hugh's  trance 
and  the  surrounding  silence  : 
^"  Won't  you  speak  to  me,  Hugh  T9 

A  bright  smile  broke  over  the  young  man's  face,  and  the  blood 
ran  up  to  the  roots  of  his  hair  like  a  girl's. 

"  Marian!"  he  exclaimed,  and  then  rather  awkwardly  stopped. 

"  You  hardly  seem  pleased  to  see  me,"  continued  she,  "and 
yet  it  is  more  than  three  months  since  you  have  done  so." 

"  Three  years  !"  said  Hugh,  half  unconsciously. 

"Not  quite  so  long,"  said  Marian,  laughing;  "but  that  is 
meant  for  a  compliment,  I  suppose.  You  were  not  used  to  pay 
me  compliments." 

"No." 

"  Won't  you  sit  down  ?  You  were  looking  at  the  view,  I  see. 
It  is  pretty,  but  nothing  to  compare  with  what  you  get  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Bay." 

"All!" 

"  It  is  quite  lovely  there.  I've  often  been  since  I  came  to  the 
city  ;  and  yesterday  I  went — with  the  children — for  the  last 
time." 

"  For  the  last  time  1"  Hugh  repeated  mechanically. 

"  Surely.  Don't  you  remember  I  sail  Wednesday?  How  dis 
trait  you  are  !" 

"  Distrait  f 

"  You've  uttered  nothing  but  monosyllables,  and  so  far  from 
seeming  glad  to  see  me,  you " 

„"  Marian !" 

She  stopped,  and  neither  spoke  for  at  least  a  minute.  The 
truth  is,  Hugh  was  wrestling  with  all  his  might  to  suppress  what 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  203 

he  feared  each  moment  would  escape  him.  This  impassiveness, 
justly  complained  of,  was  the  veriest  mask  that  could  be  imagin 
ed,  for  the  man's  whole  nature  was  stirred,  and  his  heart  was 
rocking  and  swaying  in  a  storm  which  he  feared  every  instant 
would  bring  it  to  shipwreck.  How  strange  it  is  that  men,  ay, 
and  women  too,  although  not  so  often,  will  so  generally  misun 
derstand  this  sort  of  nature — will  believe  that  this  cold,  reserved, 
self-contained  exterior  is  the  true  exponent  of  that  which  lies  be 
low  or  within  !  From  the  moment  those  lustrous  eyes  of 
Marian's  were  fixed  upon  him,  Hugh  felt  he  was  more  and  more 
in  danger  of  ceasing  to  be  master  of  himself.  That  which  re 
strained  him  from  throwing  himself  headlong  at  the  girl's  feet, 
and  then  and  there  pouring  forth  the  wildest,  the  most  over 
whelming  tale  of  passion,  seemed  so  delicate,  so  fragile,  that  he 
marvelled  then  and  afterwards  that  he  did  not  throw  down  or  over 
leap  it.  When  they  had  been  constantly  together  there  had  been 
far  less  risk  of  such  an  explosion.  But  the  cruel  void,  the  un 
speakable  vacuum  Marian's  departure  had  left  behind  he  had  now 
felt  in  all  its  bitterness,  and  his  soul  yearned  to  prevent  its  per 
manency.  The  shock  of  seeing  her  again  was  striking  chords 
in  his  breast  of  exquisite  melody  transcendent  harmony ;  was 
bringing  back  lovely  scenery,  delicious  perfumes  ;  all  that 
seems  most  delightful  in  life,  all  that  ever  reconciles  to  its  woes 
and  cares,  came  back  in  a  flood  of  intoxicating  memory,  as  of 
things  which  he  had  regarded  as  passed  away,  dead  forever,  and 
yet  they  were  here  and  alive  again.  And  Virginia  ? 

Yes,  Marian  was  right,  in  that  sense,  in  thinking  as  she  wrote 
"  it  had  been  better  otherwise."  When  she  fulfilled  her  promise, 
however,  she  was  only  reckoning  on  her  own  strength,  and 
thought  nothing  of  any  possible  strain  upon  Hugh's.  As  for 
him,  he  kept  on  looking  at  the  ocean,  and  then  at  the  floor,  and 
then,  irresistibly  impelled,  at  Marian  again,  and  then  fell  thinking 
of  honor  and  firmness,  and  Europe  and  Armstrong's  Bar.  and  of 
how  he  ought  to  have  undergone  some  process  of  purification  be 
fore  coming  from  the  presence  of  Judge  Skewer  and  Mr.  Sloper 
into  that  of  Marian ;  and  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  awoke  to  the 
consciousness  that  he  was  expected  to  say  something. 

"Yes,  Miss  Rooke,  that  is,  Marian,  you  were  very  kind  to 
write ;  and  we  are  all  very  sorry  to  think  you  are  going  to  leave 
California,"  he  said,  at  last,  in  a  measured,  business-like  tone  ; 
t;  and  as  it  was  necessary  two  of  us  should  come  down  to  the 
Bay — on  another  account — the  coincidence  was  fortunate.  Dr. 
Landale  came  down  with  me,  and  is  also  quite  anxious  to  see 
you.  He  would  have  called  this  morning,  but " 


204  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

Here  he  caught  Marian's  eyes  ;  a  look  which  turned  the  dis 
simulating  drift  of  his  sentence,  and  ended  it  in  truth  as  it  were 
with  the  force  of  destiny. 

—but  that  I  devised  a  plan  to  induce  him  to  wait  till  the 
afternoon,"  he  finished  desperately. 

Marian  laughed  quite  unsuspectingly.  "  I  shall  be  very  glad 
to  see  him.  The  Doctor  is  sometimes  rough,  but  he  is  so 
straightforward,  and,  as  I  think,  so  trustworthy,  that  one  can 
not  help  respecting  him.  And  how  are  all  the  others  at  the 
Bar  ?  I  hacl  a  letter  or  two  from  dear  Kitty — short,  though — 
and  the  last  some  weeks  ago.  Are  they  all  well  ?" 

"•Yes — all  well.  Living  the  same  life — seeing  the  same  sights 
— hoping  the  same  hopes — as  when  you  left  us." 

"And  you  have  been  fortunate?" 

"  In  gold-hunting,  you  mean1?  Not  so  much  so  as  before.  I 
don't  know  whether  the  charm  lay  in  you  or  in  Mr.  Pangburn, 
but  we  have  never  done  worse  than  in  these  last  three  months." 

"  So  that  you  are  becoming  discontented  again." 

"Becoming?  I  am  always  discontented,  I  fear.  You  know, 
of  course,  I  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  grind  on  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter.  There  is  no  chance  for  me  in  life — no  hope — but  that 
gold  is  its  stepping-stone.  So  for  gold  I  must  e'en  still  work." 

They  had  seated  themselves  on  a  Chinese  sofa,  placed  con 
veniently  on  the  piazza,  and  Marian  had  pulled  off  her  gloves — 
for  she  had  been  walking  in  the  garden,  it  seems, — and  was 
propping  them  up  mechanically  in  her  lap,  one  against  the  other, 
as  if  they  had  fingers  in  them. 

"  You  have  tjoubtless  frequently  heard  from  Miss  Chester — 
from  Virginia  ?" 

"  Oh  yes,"  muttered  Hugh,  a  slight  shiver  running  in 
voluntarily  through  his  frame;  "several  times  since  I  saw 
you." 

" She  is  well — and  happy,  I  hope?" 

"  Here  is  her  last  letter,"  said  Hugh,  half  offering  it  to  Marian, 
as  if  thus  best  to  answer  her  question.  "It  contains  nothing 
which  is  indelicate  for  another — a  friend — to  read."  he  added, 
seeing  a  slight  movement  of  rejection. 

"I  would  rather  not  read  it,  please,"  said  Marian,  gently,  but 
quite  positively. 

"  Then  I  will  read  it — or  parts  of  it — to  you."  And  he  did 
so,  calmly  and  dispassionately,  as  if  it  were  a  paragraph  from  a 
newspaper.  There  might  have  been  just  a  trace  of  irony  here 
and  there  in  passages  which  were  least  equivocal  as  to  the  para 
mount  thoughts  in  the  writer's  mind,  but  only  a  trace.  A  shadow 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  205 

came  over  Marian's  brow  as  she  listened,  and  when  Hugh 
ended  she  looked  somewhat  pained. 

"She  has  false  lights — bad  counsellors,"  she  said,  perceiving 
that  Gifford  looked  for  some  criticism ;  "  but  you  must  undo  all 
that.  You  will  teach  her  higher  views — nobler  aims — and  re 
deem  her  from  the  bad  effects  of  this  village  gossip  which  sur 
rounds  her." 

"  And  when  am  I  to  begin  this  work  of  reformation  V 

"Begin?  Now  ;  at  any,  at  all  times.  In  your  letters  ;  you 
write  to  her,  do  you  not  ?" 

"  Yes.  Regularly,  almost,  since  we  came  to  the  country ; 
and  you  see  with  what  effect." 

' '  Ah,  but  have  you  striven  to  make  a  change — to  divert  her 
mind  into  new  channels?" 

"  Have  I  a  right  to  censure  her  for  our  common  weakness — 
if  it  is  one  ?  To  criticise  the  mote  without  seeking  to  cast  out 
the  beam  ?  Why,  it  is  on  this  point  that  we  are  most  in  sym 
pathy.  The  similarity  shows  how  well  we  are  adapted  for  each 
other." 

"This  bitterness  is  misplaced  on  such  a  subject,"  said  Marian, 
earnestly.  u  If  I  did  not  know  you  better,  I  should  think  you 
heartless.  Your  duty  is  plainly  to  elevate  and  improve,  not  to 
cavil  or  sneer  at  weaknesses  wherein  you  admit  you  have  your 
self  a  share.  What  I  Are  we  placed  here  to  deal  in  such  a  spirit 
with  characters  whose  growth  is  clearly,  and  for  a  wise  purpose, 
entrusted  to  our  care — characters  which  it  is  given  us  to  nurture 
and  foster  even  as  if  they  were  those  of  little  children  ?  Do  you 
think  so  poorly  of  yourself  that  you  do  not  feel  strong  enough — 
capable  enough — to  undertake  such  an  obvious  care,  such  a  man 
ifest  duty  ?" 

"Marian,"  answered  Hugh,  humbly  and  sadly,  "  it  is  easy  for 
the  prosperous  to  condemn  the  short-comings  of  the  needy,  and 
the  world  will  never  go  backwards  for  the  want  of 'censure  from 
those  who  have  never  felt  the  temptation  to  the  crime  they  con 
temn.  There  is  something  wrong  about  me — radically  wrong,  I 
fear  ;  and  to  be  at  fault  in  this  one  thing  may  be  only  one  symp 
tom  of  a  pervading  disease.  I  loathe  the  society  in  which  I  am 
placed — not  the  Armstrongs,  or  the  others  at  the  Bar,  but  the 
circles  at  large  wherein  my  life  has  been  passed  in  the  years  gone 
by — must  be  passed,  I  suppose,  for  those  to  come.  This  may  be 
another  sign  of  the  same  malady.  What  then  ?  There  have  been 
discontented  egotists  before  my  time  ;  like  them  I  shall  live,  die, 
and  be  forgotten." 

"  You  are  wronging  yourself  now,"  said  Marian,  "  this  is  also 


206  MARIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 

mere  bitterness,  like  the  rest ;  and  what  has  it  to  do  with  Vir 
ginia  ?" 

"Only  that  I  am  asking  chanty;  the  charity  a  man  seeks  from 
those  who  can  have  never  felt  the  ills  which  led  to  his  fall.  I  can 
feel — although  you  may  not  quite  think  it — the  felicity  that  may 
lie  in  teaching,  guarding,  training  to  nobler  life  and  higher  beau 
ty,  a  certain  favored  being.  I  know  how  the  doting  mother  can 
make  for  herself  a  paradise  in  merely  hanging  over  the  footsteps 
of  her  tottering  child.  I  can  feel  that  without  this  relation — 
that  of  parent  and  offspring — such  happiness  may  be  as  great, 
such  solicitude  may  be  as  tender.  It  is  not  hard  to  picture  a  man 
and  a  woman  in  such  a  light.  She  is  young,  lovely,  and  most 
engaging  ;  but,  through  the  accident  of  fortune,  unenlightened, 
ignorant,  perhaps  even  misdirected ;  and  yet  her  character  is  full 
of  the  germs  of  nobleness  and  generosity,  her  intellect  is  stored 
with  undeveloped  ability.  The  man,  with  better  opportunities, 
with  more  enlarged  experience,  devotes  himself  to  the  task  of  im 
proving  this  charming  being — of  leading  her  to  the  utmost  heights 
of  excellence  which  she  is  capable  of  attaining.  How  noble,  how 
glorious  such  an  undertaking  !  What  happiness  to  watch,  while 
tending,  each  shoot  of  perception,  each  bud  of  maturing  intelli 
gence  I  What  rapture  to  find  each  year,  each  month,  each  day 
bringing  forth  its  fruit  of  grateful  symmetry  and  increasing  ex 
cellence  to  cheer  and  reward  his  exertions  I  What  bliss  to  be 
hold  at  last  a  creature  beautiful  and  perfect  in  soul  as  in  body, 
and  to  feel  that  such  an  ideal  work  has  been  partly  due  to  his 
own  self-paying  labors — his  own  happy  toils  !  Think  of  the  joy 
that  Phidias  or  such  as  he  have  felt  in  the  mere  cold,  speechless 
marble  whence  they  have  hewn  their  marvellous  conceptions — 
and  then  compare  it  with  his  ecstasy  who,  as  it  were,  has  created 
intelligence  instead  of  matter — a  soul  instead  of  a  body  !" 

"  Such  a  task,  such  a  labor,"  exclaimed  Marian  with  enthusi 
asm,  "should be  yours  with  Virginia." 

"  You  forget,"  said  Hugh,  with  averted  face,  "  that  to  such  a 
labor  one  thing  is  indispensable." 

"  Which  is " 

"  That  it  should  be  one  of  love,"  said  Hugh,  in  a  very  low 
voice. 

"  Good  heavens  !  you  don't  surely  mean " 

"  You  do  not  understand  me  ?" 

"  I  hope  I  do  not.  I  would  not  think  of  you  as  capricious  or 
wilful ;  as  forgetting  good  feeling,  justice,  honor.  And  yet " 

"  And  yet  you  would  think  all  these  were  I  to  confess  that  I 
do  not  love  Virginia  Chester  ?" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  207 

"  Indeed,  I  had  rather  believe  that  you  were  exaggerating  or 
misstating,  or  misconceiving  your  true  feelings ;  that  you  had  been 
distressed  by  unpleasing  foibles,  perhaps,  annoyed  by  traits 
which  were  rather  reflected  from  others  than  natural  to  Virginia 
herself ;  and  so  that  you  were  led  to  speak  hastily  and  thought 
lessly  ;  but  that  you  wronged  yourself  and  her  in  speaking  so, 
and  that  in  your  heart  of  hearts  you  truly  loved  Virginia  still." 

Gifford  turned  and  looked  straight  in  Marian's  eyes. 

"  Would  you,  Marian,  would  you  indeed  rather  believe  so  ?" 

Could  he  himself  have  stood  such  a  question  and  such  a  test ! 
I  doubt  it.  Was  it  the  truth  which  came  in  response  from  Ma 
rian's  lips-  ?  I  doubt  it.  But  what  moralist  can  tell  the  nice  dis 
tinctions  between  right  and  wrong  in  such  a  case  ?  I  cannot  an 
swer,  and  can  only  tell  what  Marian  did  and  what  she  said  ;  ex 
cept  I  will  aver  that  if  she  spoke  falsely  then,  she  never  did  be 
fore.  There  was  a  little  rising  in  her  throat,  bravely  choked, 
and  she  looked  unfalteringly  in  Gifford' s  face  and  said  : 

"  For  your  honor's  sake  I  would  indeed,  Hugh  Gilford." 

There  was  a  long  pause  again,  and  Hugh  looked  far  out  on  the 
smiling  blue  sea  and  heaved  a  great  sigh.  And  Marian  occupied 
herself  some  time  in  smoothing  her  gloves  out  very  assiduously 
on  her  knee.  It  was  she  who  broke  the  silence  and  changed  the 
subject  in  the  dexterous  fashion  women  have  : 

"  And  they  are  all  well,  you  say,  and  going  on  in  the  same  old 
way  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  just  the  same." 

"I  wish  to  send  them  some  things— ^-some  little  keepsakes; 
you'll  take  them  for  me,  will  you  not1?" 

"  Oh  yes,  unquestionably." 

"Two  dresses,  and  one  or  two  little  tobacco-boxes  and  trinkets, 
and  some  books  for  Luke,  and  a  collar  for  Lion,"  proceeded 
Marian,  as  if  it  were  needful  to  give  an  inventory  of  her  con 
signment. 

"  Books  for  Luke  ?" 

"I  promised  them.  He  is  ambitious,  poor  Luke,  and,  very 
worthily,  wishes  to  improve  himself." 

"  He  is  ambitious,  I  think,"  said  Hugh,  pointedly. 

Marian  colored.  Could  he  suspect,  she  thought,  the  mournful 
scene  before  her  departure  ?  If  he  did,  what  matter?  Only  Marian 
somehow  did  not  like  to  believe  Hugh  knew  of  Luke's  attach 
ment  or  the  revelation  of  it. 

"I  saw  him  have  a  book  of  yours  once,"  continued  Hugh,  "a 
little  Testament." 

"He  has  it  now,"  said  Marian,  simply.     Luke  had  indeed 


208  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

begged  the  volume  of  her  just  after  his  rejection,  and  she  had 
not  the  heart  to  refuse  it.  She  would  not  have  chosen  to  men 
tion  the  fact,  but  since  he  had  made  the  allusion,  she  saw  that 
Hugh  would  think  her  disingenuous  if  she  withheld  it,  and  he 
were  afterwards  by  chance  to  see  the  book  in  Luke's  possession. 
"  He  asked  me  for  it  before  I  left  the  Bar,  and  I  gave  it  him." 

"  And  I,"  said  Hugh,  not  without  pique,  "  I  am  the  only  one 
to  be  left  without  a  keepsake !" 

"  You  are  too  hasty,"  replied  Marian,  laughing,  "in  coming 
to  such  a  conclusion.  You'll  wait, .  please,  until  you  get  your 
package  before  being  quite  so  certain." 

"  With  that  hint  I  surely  will,  and  fancy  myself,  as  Lear  says 

of  poor  Cordelia,  t  though  last  not  least  in  your  dear ' " 

"Nay,"  interrupted  Marian,  with  a  quick  impulse  suppressing 
the  coming  word,  "I  have  no  such  wealth  as  the  unhappy  old 
king  had  to  distribute." 

"And  so  will  escape  an  ungrateful  return'?" 
"And  have  no  need,  I  know,  to  purchase  any  return  save  the 
one  which  will  be  mine  without  guerdon — to  be  kindly  remem 
bered." 

"  Only  kindly,  Marian  V> 

"  Perhaps  I  might  have  said,  '  affectionately.'  " 
"You  might,  indeed." 

"I  know  well,"  continued  Marian,  thoughtfully,  "how  very 
fortunate  I  was,  alone  and  helpless,  with  none  to  speak  in  my 
behalf,  and  appearances,  perhaps,  rather  against  me — how  very 
fortunate  to  chance  among  such  kind  friends  as  the  Armstrongs 
proved  to  be.  I  can  never  forget  good  Uncle  Seth's  trusting, 
fatherly  confidence — shown  from  the  very  first — or  worthy  Mrs. 
Armstrong's  quaint,  bustling  kindness  ;  or  dear  Kitty's  simple- 
hearted  love,  fond  and  clinging  as  a  sister's." 
"And  Luke?" 

"He  has  a  heart  of  gold,  Hugh.  Rustic  and  untutored  as  he 
is,  I  don't  think  there  breathes  an  honester  spirit — a  more  guile 
less  nature.  But  all  were  good  to  me ;  even  blunt,  rough  Dick, 
who  always  wanted  me  for  a  confidante  in  his  addresses  to 
Kitty.  And  as  to  poor  Ichabod  and  his  inseparable  companion, 
I  have  felt  as  if  leaving  them  for  ever  in  this  manner  were  like 
leaving  part  of  one's  self  behind." 

They  were  both  looking  seaward,  and,  as  they  gazed  on  the 
glittering  expanse,  the  boom  of  a  gun  rolled  solemnly  in  to  the 
land,  and  the  next  moment  a  long,  t  black  steamship  glided 
swiftly  into  sight,  making  straight  for  the  Heads,  the  portals  of 
the  Golden  Gate. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  209 

"  Marian,"  cried  Gifford  suddenly,  "  why  go  at  all  ?  we  were 
all  very  happy  together  at  the  Bar,  and  none  of  us  are  sure  to 
be  so  elsewhere.  None  could  have  ever  been  more  discontented 
than  I  had  been  in  my  previous  life,  but  there — at  least  when 
you  were  there — I  was  nearer  to  happiness  than  ever  before. 
You  have  blamed  me  for  restlessness  in  wishing  to  quit  it ;  and 
yet  you  do  so  for  less  reason.  As  to  independence,  none  can  be 
more  truly  independent  than  those  who,  like  you,  give  far  more 
than  they  take.  Think  of  the  many  happy  hours  you  have 
passed  there,  Marian.  Think  of  the  old  walk  by  the  river,  and 
the  dear  little  lake  perched  up  among  the  hills ;  think  of  the 
many  kind  souls  who  loved  and  valued  you  so  highly,  and  whom 
you  were  always  in  return  teaching  and  improving ;  think  of  the 
seclusion,  the  placid  content,  the  unbroken  peace  we  all  enjoyed 
shut  out  from  the  jars,  the  clamorings,  the  heartburnings  of  the 
world  Ah,  Marian,  will  you  find  better  friends,  will  you  find 
securer  shelter  than  in  that  little  nest  of  ours,  all  homely  as  it 
is  ?  Will  you  find  solace,  when  care  and  pain  perchance  shall 
come  and  seek  you  amid  strangers,  in  the  thought  that  you  have 
thus  needlessly  been  tempted  to  fly  away  and  abandon  it? 
Marian,  dear  Marian,  give  up  this  wild  scheme  of  wandering 
forth  alone  over  the  earth;  give  it  up,  and  gladden  all  our 
hearts  by  going  back  home  with  me  to  the  Bar !" 

Marian's  color  came  and  went  as  he  spoke,  her  lips  parted 
eagerly,  and  the  white  teeth  behind  them  seemed  clenched  as  if 
in  resistance  to  an  impulse  which  strove  hard  for  mastery.  Why 
was  it  that  this  man  whom  she  had  sought  to  purify  and  exalt 
should  now  be  urging  her  to  that  which  conscience  taught  her 
to  be  wrong  ?  And  yet  how  was  it  that  she  should  censure  him 
thus  when  he  must  be  ignorant  of  her  strongest  motives  for  re 
sistance?  Alas!  she  was  far  better  than  Hugh,  for  he  had 
yielded  in  a  burst  of  wild  impulsive  selfishness  to  the  same  tempt 
ation  that  she  in  her  purity  was  proof  against. 

"No,  Hugh,"  she  answered  quietly  and  steadily,  " no,  that 
cannot  be; — do  not  urge  it.  It  pains  me  much,  very  much. 
Pray  speak  of  it  no  more." 

"And  we  who  remain,"  he  exclaimed  almost  angrily,  "  our 
pain,  you  think  nothing  of  that !" 

She  turned  her  eyes  full  upon  him  with  a  mournful  expression 
that  made  Gifford  hate  himself  for  the  temper  of  his  speech,  and 
yearn  to  go  down  on  his  knees  again  for  pardon's  sake,  as  he 
had  yearned  to  do  before  for  adoration's. 

"  You  do  not  think  that,  Hugh,  although  you  say  it ;  you  will 
be  sorry  for  it  when  I  am  gone." 


210  MARIAN   KOOKE;    OR, 

He  caught  up  the  delicate  little  hand  which  lay  on  her  lap  toy 
ing  nervously  with  its  glove,  and — he  had  never  even  approached 
the  doing  such  a  thing  before — he  pressed  upon  it  one  single, 
passionate  kiss.  She  drew  it  gently  away  with  something  of 
surprise,  and,  as  she  did  so,  their  eyes  met,  and  Marian  shivered 
from  head  to  foot  as  if  sickened  with  a  sudden  chill.  For  at 
that  instant  she  became  possessed  of  a  secret  such  as  Hugh  him 
self  discovered  on  the  night  he  saw  Luke  with  Marian's  Testa 
ment. 

"  You  must  leave  me  now,"  she  said,  with  a  half  bewildered, 
half  frightened  air.  ' '  We  shall  meet  again  before  I  sail.  That 
is,  perhaps  you  will  call  once  again — to  get  the  parcels,  you 
know.  I — I — doivt  like  sending  you  away,  but  there  is  a  great 
deal  to  do  and " 

"  I  go,  Marian,"  said  Hugh,  relieving  her  evident  embarrass- 
ment ;  "  only  don't  let  me  go  thinking  I  have  oifended  you." 

"  Oh,  no,  no,"  she  replied  ;  "  the  time  is  too  short  for  any  of 
fences  to  be  given — or  taken." 

And  that  was  all.  I  have  been  wrong,  thought  Hugh,"  unea 
sily,  as  he  went  down  the  steps,  very  wrong,  and  hasty  as  a  spoilt 
child.  And  yet,  he  murmured  to  himself,  I  should  have  thought 
she  would  have  shown  more  feeling.  Wise  judges  these  men 
often  are  !  Could  he  at  that  moment  have  looked  into  poor 
Marian's  little  chamber,  he  would  have  seen  her  stretched  on  the 
bed,  weeping  her  heart  out  in  a  passion  of  desperate,  sickening 
tears. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

"  THIS  is  not  precisely  a  model  city,"  said  Gifford,  when  the 
Doctor  and  he  compared  notes  as  to  their  discoveries  and  expe 
riences. 

"It  is  a  very  charming  spectacle,"  quoth  the  Doctor,  com- 
plaisantly,  "  of  our  dear  democracy  run  mad.  I  must  confess 
they  have  been  entirely  consistent  here,  and  have  by  no  means 
done  things  by  halves.  It  is  a  picture  in  little  of  the  great  re 
public,  with  a  slight  exaggeration  in  details  necessary  to  bring 
out  the  whole  force  of  the  subject.  It  is  a  thorough-going  at 
tempt  to  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  making  a  pyramid  stand 
upon  its  apex  with  a  heaven-kissing  base  ;  and  to  tell  you  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  211 

truth,  I  for  one  would  rather  be  anywhere  else  when  the  experi 
ment  is  just,  at  its  poising  acme,  for,  whoever  is  hurt,  those  be 
low  are  sure  to  be." 

••  The  gold  discovery."  returned  Hugh,  willing  to  find  an  ex 
cuse  for  a  state  of  things  which  yet  was  as  repulsive  to  himself 
as  to  his  companion,  ••*  brought  quickly  to  the  place  not  only 
manv  of  the  most  enterprising,  but  a  great  number  of  the  most 
lawless  of  our  eastern  population.  It  seems  the  inevitable  late 
of  new  countries.  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  were  largely  pop 
ulated,  you  know,  by  thieves  and  cut-throats,  and.  more  lately, 
so  have  been  your  settlements  in  Australia.  To  be  sure,  in  these 
cases,  expatriation  was  involuntary,  but  the  result  appears  to  be 
a  common  one.  Men  who  have  forfeited  social  position  at  home 
are  very  naturally  led  to  flock  to  a  country  where  social  distinc 
tions  are  as  yet  unknown." 

"Ay,  but,"  argued  the  Doctor,  "it's  just  that  of  which  I 
complain.  There  are  people  of  education  here,  people  of  breed 
ing  and  character  5  men  who  have  all  the  knowledge,  if  they  had 
only  the  will,  to  bring  matters  to  a  more  creditable  pass,  to  put 
down  the  disgraceful  scenes  we  see  ail  around  us,  to  make  the 
community,  in  a  word,  a  respectable  one.  There  are  such  peo 
ple,  and  with  such  a  capacity  ;  but  here,  as  in  the  Atlantic  States, 
tlu'if  won't  exert  it.  They  lie  down  supinely,  and  allow  the  very 
scum  of  the  earth  to  ride  over  them  rough-shod — suffer  them  to 
make  their  city  a  bye-word  and  a  jeer  for  the  civilized  world — 
just  because  they  think  of  nothing  but  making  money,  and  are 
too  lazy  or  too  cowardly  to  apply  the  necessary  remedies." 

••  There  has  been  so  little  time,"  extenuated  Hugh  :  u  we  can't 
fairly  blame  men  for  not  acting  before  they've  had  time  to  turn 
round." 

"  Perhaps  not.  And  there  is,  moreover,  the  blissful  consola 
tion  that  it  can't  last.  In  a  very  large  city  like  Xew  York,  the 
Irish  mob — pugilists,  dramsellers.  and  gamblers — may  have  their 
way  for  a  longer  space,  because  their  abuses  are  not  so  glaringly 
conspicuous,  and  there  are  some  little — unhappily  very  little — 
but  still  some  preorganized  social  adjustments  which  they  cannot 
utterly  defy  and  overthrow.  But  here  they  are  first  on  the 
ground — here  they  come  in  with  the  conqueror ;  and  hence 
they're  safe  to  run  so  rampant  that  a  struggle  is  inevitable, 
wherein  either  they  or  all  other  classes  in  the  community  must 
succumb.  This  is  the  true  goal  of  sans  culottcism,  and  the  only 
pity  is  that  when  the  example  comes,  the  rest  of  the  country 
won't  profit  by  it." 

"  'Twill  come  on  a  larger  scale  in  good  time,"  said  GLfford, 


212  MARIAN   ROOKE;     OR, 

thoughtfully ;  "  we  are  fast  getting  to  the  extremest  limit  of 
practical  democracy,  and  I  believe  all  historical  precedents  war 
rant  the  theory  that,  once  having  reached  that  limit,  the  scale 
must  begin  to  gravitate  the  other  way.  But  you  must  admit 
that,  whatever  the  evils  you  find  in  our  system — universal  or 
manhood  suffrage,  election  of  judges,  licentiousness  of  the  press, 
the  elevation  of  ignorant  or  depraved  men  to  power — you  must 
allow  that  the  most  injurious  effects  are  largely  due  to  immigrants 
from  your  own  islands.  There  is  nothing  in  the  American  sys 
tem,  so  far  as  it  touches  those  matters,  which  need  have  been  al 
tered  or  amended  for  years  to  come,  had  it  been  applicable  to 
Americans  alone.  You  predict  a  social  convulsion  in  this  very 
little  city  ;  such  a  necessity  would  be  obviated,  or  would  never 
have  existed,  if  the  adventurers  consisted  exclusively  of  natives 
of  the  country.  The  turbulent,  the  vicious,  the  Red  Republi 
cans,  the  proposers  and  fomenters  of  fire  and  sword  for  eveiy 
European  country  which  lives  under  a  monarchy,  are  almost  to  a 
man  foreigners,  and  generally  subjects  of  the  very  countries 
whose  institutions  they  are  so  anxious  to  subvert." 

"  Ay,  they  want  to  make  all  the  other  foxes  cut  off  their  tails, 
and  so  they  may  in  good  time  ;  but  only  to  go  through  the  nat 
ural  process  that  you  Americans  will  first  set  the  example  of  do 
ing — that  of  persuading  them  to  grow  again." 

"  Perhaps  so  ;  for  it  seems  that  there  is  a  predestined  round 
of  national  vicissitudes  which,  sooner  or  later,  none  are  to  es 
cape.  But,  in  the  mean  time,  I  honestly  believe  that  with  all 
her  defects  there  is  much  in  America  which  is  truly  excellent, 
encouraging,  and  instructive  to  mankind." 

"  And  so  do  I,"  said  the  Doctor  heartily;  "  and  so  will  most 
men,  east  or  west,  who  are  not  more  anxious  to  serve  party  than 
to  serve  truth.  But  so  long  as  our  English  conservatives  swear 
that  the  republic  is  all  bad,  and  our  English  radicals  vow  that  it 
is  all  good — whilst  amid  their  eternal  racket  no  more  reasonable 
voices  can  be  heard — it  will  be  very  hard  for  untravelled  men  to 
get  at  a  really  fair  notion  of  the  facts.  And  what  complicates 
the  matter  more  is,  that  your  own  parties  on  this  side  are  always 
playing  into  the  hands  of  the  parties  on  the  other  that  hate  them 
best."^ 

"There  is  nothing  left  in  such  a  dilemma,"  observed  Hugh, 
"  but  to  neutralize  the  mischief-makers  and  promote  good  will 
by  the  constant  encouragement  of  education  and  intelligence." 

"  Just  so,"  assented  the  Doctor,  "  and  to  bear  witness  to  facts 
as  you  see  them  in  both  countries  without  reserve,  and  espe 
cially  as  against  the  interested  or  partisan  propagation  of  false- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  213 

hoods.     To  speak  the  truth  at  all  times  without  fear  or  favor, 
and  stick  to  it." 

"Amen,"  said  Hugh,  as  they  strolled  into  the  Plaza. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  day,  which  had  opened  so  bright  and  fairy -like,  became 
dark  and  lowering  as  it  grew  older.  The  ah',  which  had  been 
so  clear  and  elastic,  became  dense  and  oppressive.  The  color 
ing,  all  blue  and  gold,  which  Hugh  and  Marian  had  admired  so 
much  in  the  morning,  was  replaced  by  gray  and  lead.  Great 
black  clouds  came  rolling  and  overlapping  each  other  in  from 
the  sea,  and  heavy  drops,  like  skirmishers'  musketry,  heralded 
the  approach  of  the  storm.  Sudden  and  violent  gusts  of  wind, 
which  would  often  lay  low  many  a  tent  on  the  neighboring  hill 
sides,  tore  through  the  streets,  ripping  off  signs,  and  threatening 
to  prostrate  the  fragile  edifices  to  which  they  were  attached. 
The  rainy  season  was  beginning,"  and  this  was  but  a  specimen 
of  many  a  gay  and  laughing  morning  it  would  bring,  to  be  fol 
lowed  by  a  morose  and  scowling  noon,  "and  a  desperately  tem 
pestuous  night.  By-and-by  the  water  would  pour  down  in 
literal  floods,  penetrating  every  roof,  making  impassable  every 
street,  transforming  the  town  almost  into  a  lake.  These  cata 
racts  would  descend  the  live-long  night  without  cessation,  and 
the  stranger  would  be  astonished,  on  looking  forth  in  the  morn 
ing,  to  see  again  the  smiling,  treacherous  blue,  the  bay  without 
a  ripple,  and  the  air  without  a  sigh. 

The  Doctor  and  Gifford  had  sought  shelter  in  one  of  the  pal 
aces  of  pleasure  on  the  square,  where,  as  might  have  been  ex 
pected,  they  soon  fell  hi  with  Judge  Skewer  and  Mr.  Sloper. 
The  latter  had  a  huge  black  patch  over  one  eye,  which  by  no 
means  contributed  to  the  prepossessing  effect  of  his  appearance, 
and  the  Judge  had  a  generally  swollen  air,  which  led  Hugh  to 
think  he  must  have  kept  on  drinking  ever  since  he  last  saw  him, 
an  impression  not  far  from  the  truth. 

"  The  Yorkers  has  licked,"  he  exclaimed,  exultingly,  to  Hugh, 
"  and  the  Sydney  Ducks  ain't  nowhere.  Two  on  'em  had  their 
ribs  stove  in,  and  Belcher  Gay's  got  one  eye  aout  and  the  other 
in  the  water-bucket.  I've  put  Tom  on  my  committee.  Major, 
and  as  soon  as  he  finds  time  to  git  sober  he's  goin'  in  for  Skewer 


214  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

and  Liberty.  Lafe's  a  nice-lookin'  article,  ain't  he  1  He  fired 
one  bottle  too  many,  that's  the  hull  on't,  and  some  cuss  fired  it 
back  and  belted  him  over  the  head." 

"  And  I've  got  my  eye  on  him,"  added  Lafe,  turning  his  head 
on  one  side,  and  fixing  it  on  the  Doctor  with  awful  malevolence ; 
"  and 'the  pieces  inter  which  he  will  be  redooced  when  I  git  a 
right  fair  chance  to  whittle  air  exceedin'  small." 

"  But  really,"  said  Giffbrd,  with  a  faint  idea  that  the  provoca 
tion  giren  by  Mr.  Sloper  might  be  presumed  to  justify  that  ap 
peal  to  the  law  of  retaliation  which  had  evidently  been  resorted 
to,  "  you  might  have  expected  an  attack,  standing  on  the  coun 
ter  as  you  did,  and  pelting  both  sets  of  combatants,  and " 

"  When  there  air  a  Time,"  interrupted  Mr.  Sloper,  with  grave 
superiority,  "  them  kind  o'  chicken  fixins  is  counted  in,  and 
there  ain't  no  back  action." 

"The  Public,"  expounded  the  Judge,  with  Eldonian  deliber 
ation,  "  bein'  in  a  free  country,  reserves  the  right  to  sail  in  and 
add  to  the  pervadin'  hilarity  in-  a  gineral  way,  knives  and  shoot 
ers  bein'  barred.  A  princerple,"  he  added,  perceiving  that  his 
ruling  was  accepted  with  some  doubt  by  a  portion  of  his  audi 
ence,  "  which  has  its  origin  in  the  idee  that  sech  folks  purchases 
immoonity  by  voluntary  contributions  to  the  great  sum  of  hu 
man  enj'yment." 

"  And  aidin'  in  the  pUrsoot  of  happiness  the  industrious  por 
tion  of  the  risin'  generation,"  said  Mr.  Sloper. 

"Meanwhile,"  continued  Judge  Skewer,  "this  court  doesn't 
recolleck  the  distinguished  feller  citizen  it  sees  afore  it.  Major 
GhTord,  I'll  permit  you  to  interdoose.  Vamos.  Purceed." 

"  Oh,"  said  Hugh,  "I  beg  pardon,  I'm  sure.  This,  Judge,  is 
my  friend  and  co-laborer,  Doctor  Landale.  Doctor  Landale, 
Judge  Skewer.  Mr.  Lafayette  Sloper,  Doctor  Landale ;  a  dis 
tinguished  physician,  engineer,  and  naturalist." 

"I'm  tickled  to  know  ye,"  condescended  Mr.  Sloper,  changing 
his  eye  on  the  Doctor,  "  although  ye  air  what  some  folks  thinks 
a  leetle  orcriateral,  bein'  a  Britisher ;  but  I'm  tickled  to  know 
ye." 

"  A  Britisher  !"  echoed  the  Judge,  pausing  in  the  muscular 
process  of  hand-shaking,  and  holding  the  Doctor  at  arm's 
length  ;  "a  Britisher  !"  he  repeated,  scrutinizing  him  with  the 
curiosity  and  interest  he  would  have  bestowed  on  some  strange 
phenomenon.  "  Not  a  Duck,  and  yit  not  naturalized  ?"  he  con 
tinued,  doubtfully. 

The  Doctor  explained  that  he  had .  never  been  in  Australia, 
and  was  unfortunately  equally  far,  for  the  present,  from  being 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  215 

an  American  citizen  ;  whereupon  the  Judge  drew  a  large  pocket- 
handkerchief,  wiped  his  shining  red  face,  took  off  his  hat.  pushed 
back  his  racist  golden  hair,  and  proceeded  in  an  exalted  key  : 

"  Ah*  you  from  that  onhappy  and  down-trodden  land  ?  Be 
you  the  subjick  of  a  remorseless  tyrant  ?  Hev  you  been  a  goin' 
up  and  down  the  airth  grindin'  and  stornpin'  on  the  poor,  or  hev 
you  been  one  o'  the  poor,  and  got  ground  and  stomped  on  your 
self?" 

The  Doctor  blandly  described  his  social  position  at  home  as 
having  been  equally  removed  from  either  category ;  but  could 
not  resist  adding  that,  from  what  he  had  learned,  "more  people 
had  been  "  stomped  "  on  in  the  place  they  were  in  of  late,  than 
he  had  ever  heard  of  as  being  subjected  to  the  process  in  his  na 
tive  land. 

"  Ah  !"  said  the  Judge,  with  compassion,  "  that's  'cause  them 
bloated  minions  of  a  tyrant's 'power  keep  things  so  drefful  dark. 
They're  afeard  an  outraged  and  long-sufferin'  people  will  rise  in 
their  wrath  and  hurl  'em  in  the  dust.  It's  quite  nateral.  You 
hain't  got  no  free  and  independent  press  like  our'n,  hev  ye, 
now  r*--. 

"  Why,"  admitted  the  Doctor,  "  not  precisely  like  yours,  per 
haps  ;  but  it's  progressing  fast,  and  I  think  may  fairly  be  said 
in  some  respects  to  rival  it.  Our  newspapers  are  as  large  as 
yours,  they  are  fast  getting  as  cheap,  and  will  soon,  therefore, 
become  as  personal." 

"  The  more  cheap  and  the  more  personal  they  git  to  be,"  re 
turned  the  Judge,  ;-  the  better  the  chance  for  the  sufferin'  masses. 
What's  wanted  is  that  the  misdeeds  of  them  that  sit  in  high 
places  should  be  dug  aout,  and  held  up  to  the  light  in  all  their 
hidjus  deformity.  And  when  the  people's  quit  respectin'  their 
rulers,  they'll  naterally  take  more  to  respectin'  theirselves  ;  bein' 
the  true  aim  of  good  government,  and  the  hull  duty  of  man." 

With  this  parenthetical  protest  against  the  institutions  of 
Britain,  Judge  Skewer  immediately  became  extremely  cordial  to 
her  representative,  and  insisted  upon  his  joining  him  in  a  glass 
of  champagne  then  and  there,  which  the  Doctor,  willing  to 
change  the  subject,  readily  agreed  to. 

"  I'm  aware,"  said  the  Judge,  assuming  an  ah*  of  great  famil 
iarity  with  English  domestic  habits,  as  the  party  made  then*  way 
to  the  bar,  •'  that  your  folks  don't  drink  nuthin'  but  beer,  and 
that  'ere  thick  muck  ye  call  porter  ;  but  bein',  as  we  ah*,  the  de 
scendants  of  a  common  mother,  p'raps  we  can  jine  for  once  in 
the  same  milk." 
'  This  sentiment  commanding  general  acquiescence,  the  spark- 


216  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

ling  beverage  was  soon  forthcoming  and  disposed  of,  whereupon 
the  Judge  with  great  alacrity  ordered  another  bottle,  which,  in 
spite  of  their  remonstrances,  he  almost  forced  his  guests  to  con 
sume.  "  I'm  cock  o'  the  walk,"  he  affirmed  ;  "this  here's  my 
dunghill,  and  I  kin  do  all  the  crowin' ;"  a  metaphor  whereby  he 
meant  to  convey  that  no  one  else  should  offer  to  pay  for  the  wine 
previously  or  thereafter  to  be  drunk  in  the  place. 

"  The  Gin'ral,"  exclaimed  Judge  Skewer,  as  he  warmed  with 
the  second  bottle,  and,  having  promoted  Hugh  successively 
through  the  intermediate  grades,  gazed  at  him  with  affectionate 
enthusiasm,  "  The  Gin'ral's  one  o'  my  boys,  he  is  ;  and  to-night 
it's  my  intention  to  hist  the  rag,  and  show  him  and  our  distin 
guished  British  feller-citizen  here,  a  boundin',  riotous  old  ele 
phant,  and  nothin'  shorter." 

The  company  was  augmented  at  this  point  by  the  arrival  of 
Messrs.  Gallus  and  McCracken,  the  former  with  his  arm  in  a 
sling,  and  the  latter  with  a  bandage  about  his  head,  and  the 
Judge  at  once  became  highly  interested  in  the  recital  of  their 
exploits  and  the  condition  of  their  wounds.  Mr.  Sloper  went  a 
little  distance  from  the  group  to  where  a  large  earthen  vase 
stood  on  the  counter,  from  which  he  extracted  a  mass  of  fine-cut 
tobacco,  which  he  stuffed  into,  his  mouth.  Catching  Hugh's 
eye  while  engaged  in  this  operation,  he  beckoned  him  to  ap 
proach,  and  on  that  gentleman's  complying,  Lafayette  whispered 
in  his  ear: 

"  I  hain't  got  no  bet  on  the  Britisher,  and  he  kin  do  as  he 
likes ;  but  don't  you  git  to  playin'  keards  with  the  Judge  to 
night,  that's  all." 

"I!  Why?'  asked  Hugh,  who,  without  any  idea  of  doing 
so,  was  curious  as  to  the  reason  for  the  prohibition. 

"  Why  ?  'Cause  if  ye  do,  the  chances  are  he'll  skin  ye  alive ; 
and  if  he  happened  to  lose,  jest  as  like's  not  he'd  knife  "ye ;  and 
whar  would  ye  be  either  way  ?  I  tell  ye,  so's  ye  can  watch  how 
the  critter  works,  and  draw  out  when  there's  a  good  chance. 
The  Judge  is  a  smashin'  good  feller,  but  keards  is  his  lay.  He's 
smarter  on  'em  than  greased  lightnin'  ;  likewise  he  is  a  two- 
edged  sword,  cuttin'  both  friend  and  foe.  So  don't  blame  me 
if  ye  run  agin  him." 

"  I  never  play,"  said  Hugh  ;  "  but  thank  you  all  the  same." 

"  Folks  air  up  to  all  kinds  o'  capers  they  never  do,"  replied 
Sloper,  philosophically,  "when  they  git  enough  champagne  into 
'em.  My  idee  is,  to  wind  up  the  evenin's  amusements  at  Steve 
Whipple's.  You  hev'  there  a  square  game,  a  nice  supper,  and 
fewer  of  the  roughs  than  at  these  here  open  institutions." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  217 

"In  other  words,  a  hell  conducted  on  aristocratic  principles'?" 

Mr.  Sloper  frowned.  "  There  ain't  nuthin'  aristocratic'  bout  it 
onless  it's  givin'  credick  to  likely  buckers  when  they  run  aout  o' 
tin.  The  "pint  is,  that  up  to  Steve's  they  turn  for  too  much 
money  for  free  fightin'  to  pay.  Consequently  it's  wuth  his  while 
to  allow  somethin'  to  the  shoulder-hittin'  boys  to  stay  away." 

An  animated  discussion  here  arose  from  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Doctor  to  make  his  escape,  having,  as  he  alleged,  impor 
tant  letters  to  write  and  further  purchases  to  effect  of  necessaries 
to  take  back  to  the  Bar.  But  the  Judge  was  in  that  state  of 
mind  that  he  had  become  extremely  obstinate,  and  he  coolly  de 
clared  that  if  either  the  General  or  his  British  fellow-citizen 
wanted  to  leave,  they  would  have  to  fight  him,  Skewer,  as  an  in 
dispensable  precedent ;  and  that,  so  far  at  least  as  that  night  was 
concerned,  it  was  his  intention  to  live  and  die  with  them.  In 
vain  did  the  Doctor  plead  his  engagements,  backed  by  the  cor- 
I'oborating  testimony  of  Gifford.  '•  You  air  in  a  minority,  gen 
tlemen,"  said  the  Judge,  appealing  to  Sloper,  Gallus,  and 
M'Cracken  ;  ;'  and  in  this  here  free  country  minorities  has  no 
rights  the  majorities  are  bound  to  respeck." 

"  But  at  least,"  urged  the  Doctor,  %t  the  majority  will  allow  us 
to  go  and  get  our  dinners  ?" 

"  The  majority,"  pronounced  the  immovable  Skewer,  "  will 
dine  along  with  ye  ;  and  from  this  decision  there  is  no  appeal." 

The  ram  was  falling  in  torrents,  and  there  really  seemed  noth 
ing  better  for  it  than  to  accept  the  Judge's  proposal  that  the 
party  should  dine  together  at  a  celebrated  French  restaurant  hard 
by  ;  a  conclusion  to  which  Hugh  and  the  Doctor  soon  came. 
Nor  did  they  find  cause,  in  a  gastronomical  sense,  to  regret 
their  acquiescence,  since  the  cuisine  and  the  wines  were  found  to 
be  altogether  superior  to  any  they  had  seen  in  California.  The 
market  of  San  Francisco  is  now  famous  for  its  variety  and  abun 
dance  ;  and  even  in  the  day  we  write  of,  its  fish  and  game, 
served  by  French  cooks  and  washed  down  by  French  wines,  were 
conceded  even  by  fastidious  travellers  to  be  exceptionally  meri 
torious  for  so  new  and  so  savage  a  country.  Once  at  table,  the 
Judge  made  great  efforts  to  be  agreeable,  and  if  he  did  not  in 
the  very  fullest  sense  succeed,  it  is  but  fair  to  acknowledge  that 
he  was  often  highly  amusing.  He  gave  a  graphic  account  of  the 
first  discoveries  of  the  gold  ;  showed  by  what  curious  vagaries 
of  fortune  all  those  who  were  first  on  the  ground,  and  who  might 
have  rivalled  or  surpassed  Rotchschild  in  the  vastness  of  then- 
possessions,  had  been  swindled  or  cajoled  out  of  then-  property, 
or  had  been  so  dazzled  by  its  sudden  acquisition  that  then-  heads 
10 


218  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

gave  way,  and  they  took  to  systematic  gambling  or  drinking,  or, 
more  frequently,  to  both,  and  so  ended  in  utter  ruin.  He  told 
wondrous  stories  of  people  who  never  before  had  a  second  coat, 
arriving  here  and  becoming  millionaires  in  a  month  ;  of  others 
who  brought  capital  carefully  hoarded  by  fathers  and  uncles  and 
employers  at  home,  and  sent  out  to  found  a  business  under  the  au 
spices  of  the  steady  ones  who  were  never  known  before  to  take 
a  glass  of  wine,  to  win  or  lose  sixpence  at  play,  or  to  look 
askance  at  a  pretty  girl ;  and  how  in  six  months  the  capital  was 
all  in  the  faro  banks,  and  the  steady  ones  hopelessly  engulfed  in 
the  lowest  depths  of  dissipation.  He  described  the  extraordinary 
adventures  of  Johnny  Byng,  who  "tapped"  all  the  great  banks 
of  Sacramento  in  one  night,  and  came  down  and  was  himself  tap 
ped  at  Whipple's  in  another  ;  of  how,  on  being  again  staked  by 
an  old  partner,  he  had  gone  up  into  the  interior,  and  returned  in 
six  weeks  with  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  and  how  Dock 
et's  bank  had  agreed  to  let  him  stake  two  hundred  thousand  ef 
it  on  a  single  card ;  and  how  Johnny  lost ;  but  took  his  other 
hundred  thousand  safely  home,  settled  down  on  a  farm  in 
New  Jersey,  and  never  gambled  more.  Then  he  declared  that 
John  C.  Fremont  was  the  richest  landowner  in  the  world  ;  and 
on  some  faint  mention  of  the  names  of  Westminster  and  Buc- 
cleuch  from  the  Doctor,  swore  that  the  Mariposa  property  alone 
was  worth  more  than  double  the  possessions  of  both  those  fortu 
nate  noblemen  put  together.  The  question  of  property  suggest 
ed  the  histories  of  all  manner  of  lucky  tinkers  and  tailors  and 
what  not  who  had  come  here  miserably  poor,  and  who,  by 
marrying  their  washerwomen  or  being  "agents"  for  somebody, 
had  grown  to  be  stupendously  rich.  It  appeared  remarkable  how 
often  these  two  rather  curious  methods  of  rising  in  the  world  had 
been  adopted  by  wily  adventurers  as  young  Ambition's  ladders. 
But  when  washing  was  twenty-four  dollars  a  dozen,  and  real 
estate  went  up  cent-per-cent  in  a  month,  the  modus  operandi  may 
be  easily  imagined.  The  Judge  was  quite  right  when  he  cited, 
in  illustration  of  the  mutability  of  fortune,  the  cases  of  Yankee 
snips  and  pedlers,  who  used  to  "  cut  and  make  trousers  for  ten 
shillings  a  pair,  trimmings  in,"  or  go  about  pot-men  ding,  and 
who  to-day  swelled  in  Montgomery  Street,  the  lords  of  hundred- 
vara*  lots,  and  snivelled  through  their  now  supercilious  noses 
about  "my  property." 

When  GhTord  heard  about  these  cases,  and  many  more  like 
them,  he  groaned  in  spirit.     Of  what  use  was  his  education,  his 

*  VAKA.    The  unit  of  land  measurement,  being  a  fraction  less   than  a  yard,  established 
by  the  original  settlers  of  Spanish  origin. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  219 

thought,  his  reading,  his  refinement,  if  tinkers  and  tailors  grasped 
the  prizes  which  all  these  acquisitions  would  not  enable  him  to 
win  ?  Indeed,  why  should  men  be  educated  at  ah1,  since  it  was 
clearly  unnecessary  to  gold- winning,  and  only  made  them  un 
happy  when  they  found  that  those  who  had  it  not  so  often  out 
stripped  them  in  the  race  hi  spite  of  the  deficiency  ?  Why  edu 
cate  at  ah1  in  a  country  where  money  is  the  only  god,  the  sole 
object  of  pursuit,  the  goal  of  every  aspiration  ?  California  was, 
socially  speaking,  the  mere  focalization  of  the  entire  country  ; 
and  the  more  tinkers  and  tailors  made  fortunes,  and  the  more 
gentlemen  or  educated  men  lost  or  failed  to  win  them,  the  sooner 
would  the  great  democratic  ideal  be  attained.  Such  were  Hugh's 
thoughts  and  inferences  ;  but  the  Doctor,  who  always  seemed 
judicially  inclined  when  the  current  of  deduction  appeared  to  be 
running  all  one  way,  struck  in  at  a  favorable  moment,  and  affirm 
ed  that  the  contrasts  between  desert  and  success — capacity  and 
luck — were  quite  as  sharply  defined  in  Australia  as  in  California; 
and  that  for  that  matter  money-worship  was  gaining  proselytes 
very  swiftly  in  Old  England  herself.  So  that  although  he  did 
not  expect  to  see  the  day  when,  as  he  had  heard  was  sometimes 
the  case  in  the-  States,  a  careful  investigation  and  inventory  of  a 
man's  real  and  personal  property  were  necessary  preliminaries  to 
his  being  pronounced  eligible  for  admission  to  certain  social 
coteries,  he  thought  it  quite  possible  the  next  generation  might. 

"Well."  inquired  Judge  Skewer,  "  ain't  that  about  right  arter 
all  ?  If  you  kin  keep  on  improvin'  and  improvin'  and  follerin' 
our  glorious  example,  and  thus  accordin'  to  the  laws  of  nater  a 
puttin'  down  all  distinctions  between  man  and  his  brother  man 
'cept  money,  which  seems  to  be  a  kind  o'  Providential  exception, 
don't  it  stand  to  reason  that  bime  bye  ye'll  git  to  the  same  proud 
altitood,  and  measure  men  by  their  dollars  as  ye  now  measure 
sodgers  by  then'  inches  ?  Seems  to  me  there  aint  no  way  aout 
on't,  and  that  that  'ere  idee  will  jest  hev  to  superstruct  the  Uni 
versal  Platform." 

The  Doctor  readily  subscribed  to  this  probability,  and  although 
there  might  have  been  some  differences  between  the  Judge  and 
himself  as  to  its  advantages,  their  discussion  was  happily  avoided, 
and  the  banquet  proceeded  in  the  utmost  harmony.  "  Consider- 
in',"  observed  Mr.  Sloper,  "as  your  friend  is  a  Britisher,  we 
seem  to  hitch  bosses  pooty  clever  ;  and  it  would  be  an  awful 
good  spekerlation  for  that  'ere  little  island  to  send  over  a  few 
thousand  'cute  chaps  every  year,  with  their  eye  teeth  cut  same 
as  his'n,  so's  to  pick  up  right  idees  'bout  our  glorious  instertoo- 
shuns." 


220  MARIAN  KOOKE;  OK, 

Messrs.  Gallus  and  McCracken  had,  in  the  meanwhile,  aug 
mented  the  advantage  of  their  superior  natural  capacities  by  eat 
ing  in  vigorous  silence,  so  that  they  had  far  outstripped  their 
companions  in  the  demolition  of  rather  more  than  their  share  of 
the  viands.  Copious  draughts  of  fiery  whiskey,  which  they  de 
clared  to  be  infinitely  preferable  to  "  that  sour  French  swill,"  had 
washed  down  their  food,  and  had  been  followed  in  turn  by  gigan 
tic  plugs  of  tobacco,  which  almost  answered  the  purpose  of  gags ; 
since  if  either  of  them  were  addressed  it  was  observed  that  some 
time  elapsed,  and  much  preliminary  extrusion  of  saliva  interven 
ed,  before  he  was  in  a  safe  condition  to  reply.  These  gentle 
men  now  began  to  rasp  their  feet  uneasily  on  the  floor,  to  wink 
significantly  at  each  other,  and  to  otherwise  express  discontent 
with  their  present  monotonous  surroundings  ;  and  the  Judge  at 
last  satisfied  their  yearning  souls  by  suddenly  rising,  announcing 
that  this  court  was  now  adjourned,  and  that  it  was  time  to  think 
about  chasing  the  eagle.  "Steve's?"  interrogated  Sloper. 
"  Steve's,"  responded  the  Judge ;  and  having  paid  the  bill,  which 
he  insisted  upon  doing,  and  silenced  remonstrance  by  swearing 
that  he'd  draw  on  any  man  who  tried  to  quit  the  crowd,  the 
whole  party  made  swift  march  through  the  rain,  until  they 
reached  the  doorway  of  the  renowned  "  Steve,"  then  the  prince 
of  the  "  sporting"  fraternity  in  the  golden  city. 

The  establishment  to  which  our  friends  now  sought  admittance 
was  perhaps  the  most  sumptuously  furnished  which  could  have 
been  found  in  that  day  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Rooms  and  stair 
cases  were  covered  by  the  richest  carpetings,  into  which  the  feet 
sank  noiselessly,  and  which,  to  the  eye,  were  mossy  banks  of 
flowers.  The  walls  were  hung  in  the  costliest  manner  in  various 
delicate  tints  set  oif  by  slender  threads  of  gold  ;  and  there  were 
paintings  upon  them  which,  if  of  smaller  size,  were  of  far  higher 
grade  than  those  in  the  garish  saloons  of  the  square.  The  ceil 
ings  were  elegantly  frescoed,  and  there  depended  from  them 
tasteful  chandeliers  whose  lights  were  softened  by  ground  glass 
shades  of  a  curious  and  unique  pattern.  The  furniture  was  either 
of  rosewood  or  of  solid,  unpolished  black  walnut,  and  the  side 
boards  of  some  of  the  rooms  blazed  with  utensils  not  of  silver 
alone  but  of  the  more  precious  metal.  In  the  apartment  next 
adjoining  that  which  guests  first  entered,  a  supper  table  was  laid 
whose  appointments  the  most  fastidious  must  have  approved. 
The  linen,  the  plate,  the  'glass,  were  unexceptionable.  The 
flowers  which  formed  centres  for  the  principal  groups  were  ex 
quisite  in  colors  and  in  perfume.  The  wines,  whether  of  the 
sorts  standing  in  the  coolers  or  otherwise  disposed,  gave  every 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  221 

sign  of  excellence  ;  and  such  of  the  viands  as  were  served  cold, 
such  as  game,  fowls,  galantines,  and  the  like,  intrinsically,  as  well 
as  in  respect  of  garniture,  afforded  similar  evidences  of  their 
quality.  In  effect  there  was  nothing  which  money  could  buy 
which  was  not  lavishly  bestowed  to  add  to  the  fascinations  of 
the  scene.  Nor  was  it  difficult  to  obtain  admission  for  the  free 
enjoyment  of  these  pleasures.  Whatever  afforded  presumptive 
evidence  that  the  applicant  was  not  absolutely  without  cash  seem 
ed  to  be  sufficient  to  insure  his  welcome,  provided  he  were 
known  or  introduced  by  some  one  who  was.  On  the  present 
occasion,  the  decorous  black  who  officiated  as  Cerberus  in  a  small 
hall  between  the  street  and  an  inner  door,  recognized  Judge 
Skewer  with  a  respectful  grin,  and  passed  his  companions  with 
out  inquiry  or  comment  ;  and,  after  ascending  a  broad  and  easy 
staircase,  they  found  themselves  in  what  appeared  to  be  the  prin 
cipal  hall  of  play. 

The  door  to  this  apartment  which  opened  on  the  passage  was 
ajar,  and  no  one  mounting  the  stairs  would  have  supposed  from 
the  silence  that  some  twenty  persons  were  in  it.  Such,  however, 
was  the  tact.  A  long  green  table  ran  about  half  the  length  of 
one  side  of  the  room,  and  around  it  sat  a  group  of  men  almost  as 
speechless  as  if  they  constituted  a  meeting  of  Friends.  A  very 
handsome  hale-faced  man,  with  snowy  fingers  and  diamond  rings, 
sat  behind  the  table  and  dealt  cards  from  a  silver  box.  Before 
him  were  ranged  the  thirteen  cards  of  a  single  suit,  firmly  pasted 
to  the  cloth  ;  and  on  these  cards  were  piles  of  round  checks  or 
chips  made  of  bone  or  ivory  of  different  colors  and  sizes,  and 
which  represented  various  sums,  from  a  dollar  to  five  hundred. 
There  were  also  gold  coins  here  and  there,  the  bank  freely  ac 
cepting  bets  in  actual  money  as  well  as  hi  its  representations. 
Moreover  there  were  one  or  two  pieces  of  paper  lying  on  or  be 
tween  certain  cards  ;  these  were  checks  on  local  banks  staked  by 
persons  whose  responsibility  was  known  or  approved  by  the 
banker.  On  his  right  was  a  handsome  box  in  which  were  dis 
posed  com,  checks,  and  a  great  many  additional  packs  of  cards. 
Xext  this  again  were  symmetrical  piles  of  the  "  chips,"  which 
were  sold  to  any  intending  player,  and  redeemed  at  his  pleasure 
when  he  chose  to  desist.  Beside  the  banker  there  sat  an  assist 
ant  whose  duty  it  was  to  overlook  the  game  and  see  that  no  mis 
takes,  intentional  or  other,  should  occur  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
concern.  Sometimes  the  banker  would  name  the  cards  when  he 
turned  them  as  they  alternately  lost  and  won  ;  but  there  was 
scarcely  any  other  sound,  save  the  slight  noise  made  by  the  fall 
ing  cards,  to  break  a  silence  which  was  almost  oppressive. 


222  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

The  pervading  stillness  had  its  effect  upon  even  the  boister 
ous  spirit  of  Judge  Skewer,  and  it  was  quite  in  a  whisper  that 
he  said  to  the  Doctor  as  they  advanced  into  the  room,  "  Don't 
hev'  nuthin'  o'  this  kind  on  your  benighted  sile,  I  reckon  !"  and 
with  a  considerable  affectation  of  courtliness  that  he  bowed  to 
one  or  two  of  the  company,  who  were  sufficiently  interested  in 
the  new  comers  to  raise  their  eyes.  Most  of  them  were  ab 
sorbed — transfixed — their  whole  souls  speaking  through  their 
eyes,  which  were  glued  to  some  particular  bit  of  pasteboard  on 
the  table  before  them.  These  men  were  of  a  better  class  than 
most  of  those  in  the  public  resorts.  Well  dressed,  chiefly — 
some  with  reverend  white  hair,  many  who  had  all  the  outer  ap 
pearance  of  gentlemen — these  were  of  the  merchants,  lawyers, 
and  bankers  of  the  rising  city.  It  was  noticeable  that  the  per 
son  who  was  dealing  was  gentlemanly,  almost  distinguished  in 
his  bearing  ;  and  Doctor  Landale,  with  his  old-world  experience, 
thought  he  had  never  seen  one  of  his  profession  whose  manners 
so  little  betrayed  his  calling.  Notwithstanding  his  being  so  act 
ively  engaged,  this  man  had  a  ready  word  and  a  courteous 
smile  for  his  fresh  customers. 

"  Good  evening,  Judge — your  servant,  Marshall — quite  well, 
Mr.  McCracken  ? — most  happy,  I'm  sure — Ace  loses,  Jack  wins 
— friends,  too,  most  welcome — a  split  ten — -Antony,  chairs  for 
the  gentlemen — I  pay  the  deuce — chips,  Judge  ? — Oh  yes, 
plenty  of  room — fifty  and  the  coppered  bet  are  seventy-five — 
thank  you,  sir — Ace  loses  again— a  bad  ace  and  a  dead  king." 

The  Doctor  and  Hugh  followed  the  example  of  their  conduc 
tor,  and  bought  a  few  of  the  tempting  symbols.  A  man  was 
really  ashamed,  as  they  both  thought,  to  go  into  a  place  like 
that  and  not  pay  a  trifle  towards  its  enormous  cost ;  it  was  to 
such  a  delicate  sentiment  as  this  that  the  bank  was  monthly  in 
debted  for  solid  thousands.  Meanwhile  the  Judge  planted  him 
self  on  the  left  hand  and  next  to  the  dealer,  whom  he  accosted 
as  "Leonidas,"  and  Messrs.  Gallus  and  McCracken  having  sand 
wiched  themselves  into  eligible  positions,  the  game  proceeded 
with  increased  spirit  and  interest.  Presently  Leonidas  made 
some  sotto  voce  statement  to  his  neighbor. 

"  Show  !"  admired  Skewer. 

"  Fact,"  affirmed  the  dealer. 

"How  long?" 

"  Forty-eight  hours  at  four  o'clock  to-day — nothing  on  the 
queen — and  five  makes  fifty-three." 

"  That's  an  awful  long  sittin'.  (I'm  goin'  on  that  queen  agin 
if  I  bust.)  And  how  do  they  propel  respectin'  grub  and  rum  C 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FOBTUNE.  223 

"  Why,  Antony  and  Pomp  keep  them  going.  The  pot  cop 
pered  for  all,  gentlemen  ?  All  right,  now  I  understand  it. 
There's  a  regular  express  between  Francois  in  the  kitchen  and 
Number  Five,  Judge,  and  that's  the  way  of  it.  All  down  1 
Four  loses,  five  wins." 

From  such  words  as  the  preceding  it  became  apparent  to  any 
one  who,  like  GhTord  and  the  Doctor,  took  notice  of  them,  that 
a  remarkable  seance  was  in  progress  at  the  room  called  by  the 
dealer  Number  Five  ;  and,  as  successive  hints  revealed  the  de 
tails,  they  became  cognizant  of  the  interesting  fact  that  General 
Snagge,  Governor  Bragge,  and  Judge  Quagge  had  been  gambling 
together  at  poker  there,  since  some  time  the  day  before  yester 
day  ;  during  which  interval  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  had 
changed  hands,  and  six  dozen  of  champagne  been  emptied. 

Having  mastered  this  piece  of  intelligence,  our  two  Mends 
were  both  highly  edified  by  the  rapidity  with  which  their  modest 
little  capitals  of  twenty-five  dollars  each  were  melting  away  in 
the  chances  of  the  game.  Presently  Hugh  had  but  five  left  and 
the  Doctor  eight. 

"  Confidence,"  said  Leonidas  blandly,  ';  confidence  wins  the 
game.  Might  as  well  bet  a  hundred  as  one,  and  double  each 
time  you  lose.  Must  win  at  last.  Nine  and  seven,  I  see,  sir  ; 
and  a  nine  loses,  seven  wins  is  a  stand-off." 

"The  nine's  a  case,"  said  Judge  Skewer,  "and  I'm  a  goin'  to 
back  it  with  all  my  bones." 

Here  Mr.  Sloper,  who  for  some  reason  had  detached  himself 
from  the  party  on  entering  the  house,  stalked  into  the  apart 
ment. 

•;  I  like  to  git  posted,"  he  explained  in  an  undertone  as  he 
squeezed  himself  into  a  seat  next  to  Hugh,  "as  to  what  folks  is  a 
doiii'  of  'bout  the  premises  ;  and  there's  the  gol-darndest,  three- 
storied,  ground-and-lofty  poker  fight  ^rogressin'  in  the  sky  par 
lor  as  I  ever  heerd  tell  on  ;  likewise  I've  riz  a  stake  by  a  small 
dicker  in  cigars." 

"Back  the  nine,  Lafe,"  suggested  the  Judge.  "  Only  one  on 
'em  in,  and  I've  jest  dumped  my  hull  pile  on  it." 

"That  bein'  the  case,"  responded  Mr.  Sloper,  "I  reckon  I'll 
hev  to  copper.  It  runs  agin  my  style  to  bet  agen  the  bank  when 
it's  turnin'  for  a  hull  pile." 

As  the  speaker  put  a  little  Chinese  or  Japanese  coin  on  his 
stake,  which  implied  that  he  backed  the  card  to  lose,  a  dark  man 
who  had  a  considerable  sum  also  on  the  nine,  did  the  same  thing 
just  an  instant  before  the  dealer  turned. 

"Five  loses — Jack  wins.     All  down?    Six  loses,  queen  wins." 


224  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"  Cuss  that  queen,"  anathematized  the  Judge  ;  "  I  left  her  jest 
at  the  wrong  time." 

"  Ace  loses,  deuce  wins.     Nine  loses,  queen  wins." 

"  Two  hunderd  on  the  deal,"  lamented  Skewer.  "  That  comes 
o'  you  copperin'  my  bet,  Lafe.  Don't  do  it  agin,  now,  or  I'll  git 
sassy." 

"This  takes  the  five  and  seven,"  said  the  dark  man,  laying 
down  a  hunderd  dollars  on  a  corner  of  the  five. 

"  Very  good,  sir.  Two  turns  more  in,  gentlemen,  or  three. 
Five  loses,  seven  wins  ;  •  a  stand-off,  Mr.  Du  Solle.  All  ready  ? 
Why,  Antony,  where  are  you  going  with  that  brandy  ?" 

"Judge  Quagge,  sir,  he  sick  o'  de  dam  wishy-washy,  sody- 
mead  wine.  He  say  de  General  and  de  Gubenor  make  him  ner 
vous  wid  it,  so's  to  shaken  him  grip." 

"  Give  him  my  compliments — Mr.  Darrell's  compliments — and 
tell  him  to  try  a  little  absinthe.  Four  loses,  ace  wins.  Nothing 
like  absinthe  after  a  heavy  siege.  Eight  loses,  seven  wins. 
You're  beating  us  heavily  this  deal,  Mr.  Du  Solle." 

The  dark  man  smiled  but  said  nothing,  and  Mr.  Sloper  promptly 
coppered  the  seven,  thinking  that  next  time  it  was  likely  to  lose. 

"No  use  buckin'  agen  luck,"  groaned  Judge  Skewer  ;  -'how 
do  you  stand,  Marshal  T 

"Two  hundred  in." 

"  Jest  lend  us  a  hunderd,  then,  and  I'll  see  if  I  can't  fetch  up 
on  the  next  box.  You're  bitter  water  to-night,  Lonny,  you  are." 

"  The  fortune  of  war,  Judge.  We  can't  always  win,  you  know. 
The  bank's  out  heavily  on  the  week." 

"  Is  that  so '?     What  does  Steve  say  to  that  ?" 

"  What  does  he  care  ?"  said  Leonidas,  carelessly  ;  "  with  five 
hundred  thousand  ahead  since  the  first  of  May." 

"  Five  hunderd  thousand  ahead  !  Seems  to  me  if  I  had  that 
I'd  jest  shet  pan  and  slope  for  hum  !" 

"Home's  a  fool  to  this  place  ;  and  he'd  rather  run  the  bank 
and  lose  than  knock  off  altogether.  New  deal,  gentlemen. 
All  ready  now  for  a  lively  turn.  What' 11  you  take,  Judge  ? 
Come,  gentlemen,  give  your  orders.  Pomp,  take  the  gentle 
men's  orders." 

"  Yis,  sar!" 

u  Nine  champagnes, four  brandy  and  water,  three  whiskey  rieat, 
two  sherries,  two  soda  cocktails,  two  midnight  warblers,  one  iced 
water  !  And  a  box  of  cigars  !" 

"Yis,  sar." 

"  Give  me  some  more  chips,  Lonny.  I'll  make  a  break  this 
time,  or  spill  my  heart's  best  blood  !" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  225 

"All  right.  Judge.  Twenty-five,  fifty,  seventy-five,  and  a 
hundred." 

A  tremendous  yell  here  rang  through  the  upper  part  of  the 
house,  followed  by  cries  of  apparent  remonstrance  and  expostula 
tion. 

"  What  the  devil's  that  ?"  cried  half-a-dozen  voices. 

"  Don't  be  alarmed,  gentlemen,"  said  Leonidas,  with  his  per 
petual  suave  smile.  "Nothing  broke,  I  dare  say.  Watch  the 
game,  Augustus.  Now,  Antony,  what  is  it  ?" 

"Judge  Quagge,  sir,  him  have  jest  little  tech  of  the  man  wid 
the  poker  arter  him ;  and  Gineral  Snagge  and  Governor  Bragge 
and  Massa  Steven  they  are  jest  a  sittin'  on  him  little  while,  till  he 
stop  him  shakin'  !" 

"  Oh,  that's  all,  is  it  ?  Shouldn't  have  taken  the  brandy. 
This  is  my  bitters,  gentlemen,"  said  the  dealer,  showing  his  hand 
some  teeth  and  tapping  the  tumbler  of  iced  water  beside  him. 
"  Here  we  go  again  !  All  ready  and  nobody  left  behind." 

"  Don't  see  what  a  man  should  hev  the  horrors  fur,"  grumbled 
Sloper,  morosely,  "  with  only  forty- eight  hours  trainin'.  There's 
them  down  our  way  that  case-hardened  they  don't  see  snakes 
under  a  week  1  I  reckon  /  could  travel  four  days,  and  I  ain't 
much  accaount." 

"  Ah,"  said  Judge  Skewer,  pathetically,  "  it's  these  'ere  new 
ways  as  knocks  the  bottom  out.  Xater  can't  be  expected  to 
wrastle  with  this  outlandish  French  muck  like  as  when  she  had 
old  Rye  to  lean  agen.  I  kin  drink  champagne,  I  kin,  and  I  like 
it ;  but  I  don't  feel  merself  the  man  I  was  when  I  ante'd  on 
whiskey  straight  and  didn't  go  nuthin' better." 

"  King  wins,  five  loses.  Come  down,  gentlemen.  Eight 
loses,  tray  wins.  Tray  loses,  eight  wins  ;  a  repeater  backwards. 
King  wins,  five  loses  again  ;  the  cards  are  bewitched.  You're 
winning  fast  enough  this  tune,  Judge  I" 

"  On'y  a  hunderd,  so  fur.  There's  your  money  back,  Malachi, 
and  darned  lucky  you  air  to  git  it.  Gin'rally  speakin'  I  take 
thirty  days  for  them  debts.  That  man's  goin'  in  heavy,"  con 
tinued  the  Judge,  in  an  undertone  to  GhTord.  "  See  !  He's  got 
five  hunderd  on  the  king  to  win  a  third  time — a  bad  bet,  /  call 
it,  but  then  you  can't  tell  nuthin'  about  old  Pharaoh.  There  he 
goes,  by  thunder!" 

"  King  loses,  ten  wins.     Five  hundred  again,  Mr.  Du  Solle  ?" 

The  dark  man  had  not  spoken  before,  nor  did  he  move  a  mus 
cle  when  he  lost  his  late  heavy  bet;  but  he  replied  briefly  to  the 
dealer's  question : 

"A  thousand,  if  you'll  take  the  bet." 


226  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;      OR, 

Leonidas  hesitated.  "Two  hundred,  cold,  is  the  rule,  you 
know,  sir  ;  and  we've  exceeded  it  several  times  ;  however,  we'll 
take  the  bet  for  once.  Shall  I  give  you  more  checks,  sir  1" 

u  I've  no  more  money.  Just  hand  me  that  pen."  The 
speaker  tore  a  leaf  from  a  small  book  which  he  took  from  his 
breast,  hastilly  filled  up  a  check,  and  threw  it  carelessly  across 
the  table,  saying,  "  That  will  do,  I  suppose." 

"Thanks,  yes,"  replied  Leonidas,  just  running  his  eye  over 
the  writing,  "perfectly  well,  Mr.  Du  Solle." 

A  fourth  time  that  name !  And  Hugh,  absorbed  in  the  unu 
sual  scene,  or  interested  in  his  own  or  the  Doctor's  vicissitudes, 
had  taken  no  heed ;  but,  as  the  dealer  tossed  the  slip  of  paper 
he  had  glanced  at  on  the  top  of  others  lying  in  his  box,  Hugh's 
eye  involuntarily  followed  it  and  read  there :  "  Burgoyne  and^Co. 
Pay  to  Bearer  One  Thousand  Dollars.  Pierre  Du  Solle."  At 
the  same  moment  Leonidas  handed  over  two  large  ivory  circles, 
each  representing  five  hundred  dollars,  and  which  the  dark  man 
immediately  placed  on  the  king. 

"All  ready,  gentlemen?     All  down?" 

"  Hold  yer  bosses,  Lonny!"  exclaimed  Judge  Skewer  ;  "  I'm 
a  goin'  to  copper  that  king  1" 

"Me,  too,"  echoed  Sloper,  Gallus,  and  McCracken;  but 
their  aggregate  stakes  were  much  less  than  the  dark  man's  sin 
gle  one. 

"All  down?  Ace  loses,  deuce  wins.  King  loses,  queen 
wins." 

Mr.  Du  Solle  rose  quietly  and  lit  a  cigar.  "  Will  you  take 
two  thousand  on  the  next  case  king  ?  Either  to  win  or  lose  ?" 

"Well,  sir,  you  know  two  hundred,  cold,  is  the  rule,"  re 
peated  Leonidas,  smiling  with  even  more  than  his  usual  urban 
ity  ;  "  but  since  you  are  a  heavy  loser,  sir,  we  will  transcend 
it  for  once." 

Again  a  check  was  filled  up  and  handed  over ;  and  again 
the  ceremony  of  passing  over  in  return  the  ivory  symbols.  This 
time,  however,  the  recipient  waited  until  three  of  his  favorite 
kings  had  been  dealt  oft'  before  placing  his  stake  5  and  this  time 
he  backed  the  king  to  lose. 

"I'm  goin'  a  hundred  on  that  king  !"  proclaimed  Skewer 
with  alacrity,  and  "Me  too!"  again  echoed  Sloper,  and  Gallus 
and  McCracken. 

"All  right,  gentlemen,"  quoth  the  affable  Leonidas,  ''and  all 
down.  Pomp,  give  me  a  cigar.  Ten  loses,  nine  wins ;  and  a 
queer  nine  it's  been  to-night.  Queen  loses,  ace  wins.  Keep 
your  eyes  open,  Augustus,  Six  loses,  king  wins !" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  227 

Mr.  Du  Solle  again  rose,  but  this  time  he  sauntered  coolly  to 
wards  the  door. 

"  No  more  checks,  sir*?"  asked  the  dealer. 

"None,  thank  you.  Ten  thousand  is  enough  for  one  night," 
and  he  disappeared. 

"I  say,  Lonny,"  said  the  Judge,  softly,  "you  kind  o'  cooked 
him." 

"  Nonsense,"  returned  Lonny ;  "  he  won  twice  the  sum  here 
yesterday. " 

"  Git  aout !     Did  he,  though  ?" 

"  Fact.  But  I  didn't  deal.  You  see  there's  a  difference  in 
men's  luck  when " 

He  was  interrupted  by  the  outburst  of  an  uproar  above  ten 
times  more  hideous  than  before  ;  but  the  sounds  were  not  con 
fined  to  shoutings  and  stragglings  like  the  last.  For  suddenly 
there  came  the  sharp  report  of  a  pistol-shot ;  then  another, 
another,  and  another,  until  the  listeners  had  counted  five. 

"  Sit  still,  gentlemen,  sit  still,"  cried  the  imperturbable  Leoni- 
das  ;  "  nothing  but  a  bit  of  fun  above,  I  dare  say.  Quick, 
Pomp,  and  let  us  know  what's  up.  Watch  the  game,  Augus 
tus.  Here's  Antony  !  What  is  it,  Antony  ?" 

"  Nuffin,  Massa  Lonny,  least,  nuffin  much.  You  see,  Massa, 
Judge  Quagge  and  Gub'nor  Bragge  hab  a  little  difficulty  and 
draw'd.  And  Gineral  Snagge  comin'  between  to  keep  'em 
peaceable,  they  both  jest  sot  to,  and  went  to  firm'  into  the 
Gineral!" 

"Good  Heavens!"  cried  Gilford  and  the  Doctor,  rising 
aghast. 

'•Is  he  dead  ?"  exclaimed  the  others,  one  or  two  making  for 
the  door. 

•;  Guess  he'm  hurt  a  good  deal,  ge-mmen,  'cause  he  didn't  fire 
back ;  but  he  ain't  dead."  And  the  negro  rushed  out  with  what 
he  had  been  sent  to  fetch,  nearly  knocking  down  another  just 
running  in. 

"Quick  now,  Pomp,  what's  the  word]  Is  the  General 
killed  •?" 

"  Oh  no,  Massa.  On'y  knocked  him  ear  off  wid  one  shot, 
and  anoder  shoot  him  troo  de  libber.  Him  all  right  in  a  week, 
I  reckon." 

"  Nuthin'  but  a  one-horse  fight,  arter  all,"  said  Sloper,  vin 
dictively; 

"  Do  go  o,n  with  the  game,  can't  ye,  Lonny?"  asked  Skewer, 
with  impatience. 

the  game  !"  cried  the  Doctor,  starting  oft  to  the  relief 


228  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

of  the  sufferer,  closely  followed  by  Gifford,  who  was  not  sorry  to 
avail  himself  of  the  chance,  since  it  had  arisen,  to  escape  from 
the  clutches  of  his  extraordinary  companions. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MARIAN  had  more  reasons  than  one  to  fortify  her  resolution  to 
leave  California.  It  is  probable  that  had  she  found,  on  first 
arriving  in  the  country,  so  congenial  and  refined  a  home  as  had 
been  hers  in  the  quiet  French  family  with  whom  she  now  resided, 
she  would  have  esteemed  it  a  rare  good  fortune,  and  would  gladly 
have  accepted  its  permanent  protection.  But  several  events  had 
since  fallen  out  to  modify  her  views,  and  which  promised,  indeed, 
altogether  to  change  her  intended  future.  The  letter  she  had 
last  received  from  her  father's  friend  in  Europe-contained  expres 
sions  which  were  as  potent  in  determining  her  actions  as  per 
emptory  commands  would  have  been  from  that  father  himself. 
"  It  is  necessary,"  he  wrote,  "for  the  sake  of  my  dear  friend's 
memory  as  well  as  for  that  of  his  daughter,  that  she  and  I  should 
meet  at  an  early  day,  that  matters  should  be  disclosed  which  are 
unsuitable  to  a  correspondence,  and  that  investigations  should  be 
made  of  a  nature  requiring  both  your  concurrence  and  my  own  to 
render  them  complete  and  satisfactory.  I  should  do  less  than 
my  duty  did  I  not  urge  immediate  attention  to  these  points  as 
sacredly  due  to  yourself  and  to  the  character  of  your  dead  father." 
The  letter  concluded  with  a  repeated  desire  that  Marian  should 
meet  the  writer  at  New  York  within  a  given  date,  and  enclosed 
a  letter  of  credit,  which  under  any  circumstances  would  afford 
her  ample  means. 

There  needed,  then,  no  conscientious  scruples  respecting  her 
relations  with  Gifford  to  urge  her  departure;  since  she  would 
equally  have  felt  bound  to  depart  had  none  such  existed.  But 
there  was,  besides,  a  third  reason  for  such  a  step,  which  had 
scarcely  less  weight  than  either  of  the  others  ;  and  it  need 
scarcely  be  said  that  this  was  the  presence  of  the  man  whom 
Hugh  had  chanced  to  meet  at  the  gaming  house.  There  was 
nothing  singular  in  the  circumstance  that  Du  Solle  should  have 
bent  his  steps  to  California.  Many  men  of  his  stamp  found  their 
way  there  in  the  early  days,  and  find  their  way  there  perhaps 
still.  He  had,  moreover,  a  load  on  his  breast-^a  dark  stain 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  229 

on  his  conscience — which  not  unnaturally  might  urge  him  to 
travel,  to  hurry  from  place  to  £»lace,  that  he  might  escape  in  fresh 
distractions  the  constant  thought  of  that  ineffaceable  deed  within. 
Marian  had  no  idea  that  there  was  any  sinister  connection  between 
her  presence  in  San  Francisco  and  this  man's  arrival  there.  But 
she  knew  of  his  coming — had  seen  him  indeed  in  the  streets — 
and  she  felt  she  could  not  breathe  the  same  air  with  that  inhaled 
by  the  slayer  of  her  father. 

When  Gifford  saw  her  therefore  on  the  following  day,  the  last 
day,  as  he  thought,  they  might  ever  meet  for  converse  such  as 
then  they  had,  alone  and  undisturbed,  he  scarcely  required  her 
renewed  explanation  as  to  the  necessity  for  her  going  to  Xew 
York,  to  understand  her  conviction  that  the  necessity  existed  for 
her  quitting  San  Francisco.  He  had  felt  instinctively,  when 
reading  his  name  on  the  check,  that  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  the 
man's  identity  ;  and  the  repugnance  with  which  such  a  presence 
inspired  himself,  remembering  as  he  did  every  detail  of  Marian's 
sad  story,  readily  supplied  a  measure  for  estimating  its  effect 
upon  her.  He  well  knew  that  with  such  a  nature  as  Marian's, 
every  day,  almost  every  hour,  must  be  a  separate  pain  when  thus 
living  in  the  same  place,  running  the  constant  risk  of  encounter 
in  its  contracted  limits  with  one  whose  relation  to  her  in  each  of 
its  wretched  features  had  been  that  of  Pierre  Du  Solle.  And  the 
more  he  thought  of  it,  the  more  he  himself  seemed  to  dislike  the 
idea  of  her  remaining.  Go  back  to  the  Bar  she  could  or  would 
not.  She  felt  that,  even  before  he  had  been  irresistibly  tempted 
to  propose  it ;  and  that  was  the  only  alternative  left  since  she 
could  not  remain  where  she  was. 

This  was  to  be  their  last  meeting,  then.  For  although  Hugh 
was  to  see  Marian  on  board  the  steamship,  yet  the  family,  who 
were  full  of  kindness,  would  also  be  there,  and  so,  for  that  matter, 
would  the  Doctor  ;  and  thus  this  was  practically  their  last  meet 
ing.  It  was  a  very,  very  sad  one.  Heaven  knows  there  are  ills 
and  pains  and  trials  enough — for  its  own  wise  purposes — in  this 
strange  world  of  ours ;  but  I  know  of  no  trial  more  sharp,  no 
pain  more  acute,  no  ill  more  hopeless  than  that  of  two  beings 
who  might  make  each  other  very,  very  happy,  and  who  feel  in 
their  innermost  souls  that  they  could  increase  each  for  the  other 
its  highest  capacity  for  good  works,  and  who  yet,  for  duty's 
sake,  for  conscience'  sake,  for  justice'  sake,  must  say  that  bitter 
good  bye  to  each  other  for  ever;  must  take  up  their  weary 
crosses  to  struggle  on  in  this  gloomy  pilgrimage  by  paths  which 
shall  never  meet  again. 

The  meeting  was  a  very  sad  one,  and  we  will  not  linger  over 


230  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

its  details.  But  there  was  no  talk  of  love  in  it.  That  ground 
was  banned,  tabooed,  forbidden.  There  was  no  talk  of  love ; 
but  there  was  a  strange,  sorrowful  undertone  accompanying 
everything  that  was  said,  and  whispering  of  yearnings  crushed, 
of  hopes  never  to  be  fulfilled,  of  a  life  to  come  full  of  weariness, 
and  blackness,  and  despair.  To  be  sure  there  were  bits  and 
flashes  of  gaiety,  like  those  threads  of  gold  Spanish  women  delight 
in  having  shot  here  and  there  through  their  sombre  dresses  ;  but 
the  undertone  of  sorrow,  the  background  of  gloom  was  ever 
present,,  and  the  threads  only  made  it  look  the  blacker. 

Marian  had  her  package  ready  ;  the  package  of  little  offerings 
which  Gifford  was  to  take  home  to  the  Bar,  and  not  to  open 
until  he  got  there.  And  she  had  many  fond  and  loving  mes 
sages  to  send  to  her  kind  friends  the  Armstrongs  ;  nor  was  any 
one  forgotten,  indeed,  of  all  the  little  circle.  They  were  to  re 
member  that,  after  all,  she  and  they  might  be  together  once 
more.  For,  might  not  Mr.  Armstrong  get  rich  enough  to  buy 
the^old  homestead  at  Saybrook1?  And  was  not  that  within  a 
very  short  distance  by  rail  from  New  York  ?  And  might  they 
not  then  see  as  much  of  each  other  as  ever  ?  She,  Marian,  hoped 
so.  Nay,  she  even  felt  sure  of  it.  But  she  did  not  express, 
even  if  she  felt,  any  such  aspiration,  any  such  certainty  as  to 
meeting  Hugh  again.  It  was  wiser  not  to  wish  such  a  thing, 
wiser  even  if  wished  not  to  say  it. 

I  must  affirm,  without  intending  to  enter  into  the  vexed  ques 
tion  touching  the  relative  moral  or  intellectual  inferiority  of  the 
sexes,  that,  so  far  as  this  man  and  this  woman  were  concerned, 
she  was  the  better  and  the  stronger.  She  knew,  or  felt  certain 
now,  that  Hugh  loved  her  ;  but  nothing  could  make  her  let  him 
see  that  she  knew  it.  If  he  knew  that  she  loved  him — which 
he  did  not  know — he  would,  I  fear,  have  been  neither  so  mag 
nanimous  nor  so  brave ;  he  would  not  have  resisted  temptation  so 
courageously,  he  would  not  have  respected  the  rights  of  another 
so  religiously.  He  had  many  good  qualities,  had  Hugh ;  ay,  and 
nobler  ones  than  the  world  has  given  him  credit  for  before  or  per 
haps  since ;  but  I  seek  to  describe  him  as  he  was,  and  not  to  depict 
as  a  perfect  monster  a  creature  not  without  faults.  To  which  it 
may  be  urged  that  my  account  of  Marian  is  in  consistent  with  such 
a  profession ;  but  I  do  not  fear  that  any  man  who  has  seen  much  of 
the  world  will  challenge  my  accuracy  when  I  say  that  perfection,  if 
impossible,  is  more  possible  with  the  opposite  sex  than  his  own. 

For  my  part,  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  declaring  that,  consider 
ing  all  the  hard  and  unsympathizing  character  of  his  boyish  sur 
roundings — considering  his  original  nature,  so  sensitive,  so  re- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  231 

served  and  so  proud ;  considering  the  oblique  warp  which  injus 
tice  and  harsh  treatment  had  begotten,  received  among  people 
who  disliked  him  because  they  did  not  understand  him,  or  be 
cause  he  was  different  from  themselves,  or  because  they  disliked 
or  did  not  understand  his  parents,  or  because  he  or  they  were 
poor — I  say,  regarding  all  these  things,  Hugh  Gifford  became  in 
time  a  better  man  than  might  have  been  expected.  Neither  do 
I  shrink  from  expressing  my  belief  that  much  that  was  sweet,  and 
straightforward,  and  true  in  Marian's  character  owed  its  develop 
ment,  if  not  its  existence,  to  the  happy,  generous  abundance 
and  trusting  fondness  which  hedged  around  her  childhood. 
There  are  many  things  in  every-day  life  which  appear  mysteri 
ous  and  complex,  but  which  analysis  resolves  into  very  simple 
elements.  If  the  two  had  been  changed  in  childhood,  Marian 
might  have  been  a  sort  of  Jane  Eyre  ;  and  Hugh  would  have 
grown  up  a  gay  and  reckless  cavalier,  perhaps ;  so  perhaps  it  is 
just  as  well  that  they  were  not. 

I  called  on  Marian  that  afternoon  to  say  my  adieux — for  we 
had  always  been  and  always  will  be  the  best  of  friends — and  on 
iny  way  to  the  door  I  met  Hugh ;  and  he  looked  like  a  very  sul 
len,  and  morose,  and  miserable  man  ;  and  Marian,  although  her 
eyes  were  a  little  red,  looked  like  a  saint ;  and  this,  it  struck 
me,  very  fairly  represented  their  two  characters  at  the  then  stage 
of  their  experience — at  the  point  which  each  had  then  attained 
in  their  pilgrimage  through  the  world. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IT  was  not  the  easiest  thing  imaginable  to  find  a  lodging  at 
this  time  in  San  Francisco.  Much  of  the  population,  as  has 
already  been  observed,  lived  under  canvas.  Many  slept  on  board 
the  innumerable  old  ships  in  the  harbor  ;  some  slept  under  the 
old  boats  on  the  shore.  When  the  hours  grew  small,  and  even 
the  insatiable  gamblers  and  their  streams  of  hallucinated  custom 
ers  became  at  last  wearied  and  exhausted,  there  was  a  claimant 
for  every  betting-board,  for  every  billiard-table,  and  for 
every  counter.  Buildings  were  going  up,  it  is  true,  with  great 
rapidity  ;  but  population  was  pouring  in  with  a  rapidity  greater 
still  ;  so  that  every  tent,  shed,  shop,  and  warehouse  had  its  con 
trivances  for  dormitories,  its  complement  of  sleepers.  There 


232  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

were  hotels  too  ;  but  they  were,  to  speak  mildly,  of  indifferent 
character,  and  moreover,  they  were  incredibly  dear  ;  therefore 
Hugh  Gifford  and  Dr.  Landale  did  not  patronize  the  Oriental  or  the 
Tehama  House ;  they  took  the  advice  of  Mr.  Sloper,  who  recom 
mended  an  attic  in  a  new  three-storied  warehouse  on  Sacramento 
Street,  and  where,  if  furniture  and  attendance  were  of  the  scan 
tiest,  the  price  was  moderate  and  the  situation  convenient. 

Into  this  rather  exceptionally  lofty  apartment  the  Doctor  and 
Hugh  had  conveyed  their  various  purchases ;  consisting  of  drugs, 
dry  goods,  seeds,  agricultural  implements,  powder  and  shot,  and 
other  useful  articles  which  they  were  to  take  with  them  on  their 
return  to  Armstrong's  Bar.  Here  also  was  Marian's  package  ; 
and  here  the  two  came  to  sleep  on  the  night  before  the  day  of 
her  departure.  The  Doctor  had  proposed  returning  to  Sacra 
mento  en  route  for  home  that  afternoon,  but  willingly  deferred  to 
Gifford's  wishes  and  the  representation  that  the  Armstrongs 
would  be  so  much  the  better  pleased  to  know  that  they  had  seen 
their  protegee  safely  on  her  voyage. 

The  companions  were  both  weary  of  the  perpetual  and  monot 
onous  sights  and  sounds  of  dissipation  and  debauchery  of  which 
two  days  sufficed  to  furnish  a  repletion,  and  had  conversed  to  a 
late  hour  on  the  evils  and  drawbacks  of  the  infant  civilization 
which  the  gold  discovery  was  forcing  into  so  swift  and  abnor 
mal  a  growth.  They  had  discussed,  and  agreed,  and  argued 
about  old  societies  and  new  societies,  and  the  comparative  ad 
vantages  and  disadvantages  of  republican  or  monarchical  systems 
as  applied  to  both,  and  the  probable  future  of  California,  and 
that  of  the  whole  country,  and  the  general  effect  upon  national 
policy  of  that  peculiar  hatred  of  England  which  the  immigrant 
Irish  and  their  descendants,  and  English  and  Scotch  co-mates  in 
exile  as  well,  were  at  such  pains  to  keep  alive  and  to  disseminate, 
and  divers  cognate  subjects,  until  their  eyelids  could  no  longer 
wag.  / 

These  matters,  although  of  an  eminently  suggestive,  were  by 
no  means  of  a  lightsome  or  inspiriting  character,  and  when  Hugh 
fell  asleep  it  was  no  great  wonder  that  his  mind  rambled  into 
regions  more  picturesque  and  fanciful.  He  dreamed  that  he  had 
become  enormously  rich,  but  that  old  Mr.  Chester,  through 
some  extraordinary  concatenation,  refused  to  let  Virginia  marry 
him  because  he  was  so  poor ;  and  how  he  travelled  across  the  sea 
to  the  Old  World  his  waking  dreams  in  boyhood  used  to  dwell 
so  much  upon ;  and  how  many  a  gray  old  cathedral,  many  an 
historic  castle,  crumbling,  yet  majestic,  how  many  a  Gothic  bra 
ver  of  the  centuries,  and  many  a  lovely,  winding,  copse-embow- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  233 

ered  road,  had  filled  up  his  unsatisfied  longings,  had  supplied  the 
something  to  imagination,  the  color  to  the  blank,  ugly  common 
place  of  existence  which  a  life  passed .  among  steeples  made  of 
white  boards,  and  mansions  like  shoe  boxes,  and  treeless  wastes 
which  fear  of  Indians  had  denuded  and  idiotic  tastelessness  had 
left  so,  and  intercrossing  roads  like  chess  boards,  and  a  host  of 
other  antithetical  disagreeables  had  left  empty  and  sterile.  Then, 
from  these  merely  physical  contrasts,  his  mind  passed  to  spirit 
ual  ones.  He  dreamed  that  he  had  become  a  much  better  and 
nobler  man  than  he  ever  yet  had  been.  That,  casting  selfishness 
and  indolence  and  morbid  egotism  behind  him,  he  was  pressing 
forward  with  earth's  brightest  and  best,  doing  battle  in  the  very 
van,  for  human  rights,  for  human  progress,  for  immutable  truth, 
for  celestial  justice  which  was  to  bed  one  on  earth.  And  out  of 
that  idea  of  something  celestial  was  evolved  a  most  lovely  and 
roseate  halo  at  the  end  of  a  glorious  perspective,  to  be  reached 
through  stress  of  glorious  deeds ;  and  in  that  halo  stood  Marian, 
smiling  and  beckoning  him  to  her  arms,  as  the  crown  and  re 
ward  of  his  labors. 

But  to  reach  her,  much  must  still  be  accomplished.  The  path 
was  beset  with  difficulties,  there  were  many  stalwart  opponents 
to  overcome,  many  a  barrier  to  overthrow  or  to  overleap.  Yet 
what  would  not  Hugh  do  and  dare  with  such  a  prize  as  his  ulti 
mate  reward  ?  On  he  rushed,  now  smiting  down  an  adversary, 
now  rolling  in  the  dust  himself;  sometimes  discomfited  but 
always  recovering,  straining  on  through  all  and  in  spite  of  all 
towards  his  goal.  At  last  he  saw  it  close  at  hand,  but  before  he 
could  quite  attain  the  shrine,  before  he  could  clasp  Marian's  snowy 
hand  and  claim  it  as  his  own,  he  must  encounter  one  adversary 
more  terrible  than  all  the  others,  a  gigantic  dark-faced  Being, 
whose  features  were  those  of  the  murderer-gamester.  Du  Solle. 
This  horrible  figure  wielded  a  huge  battle-axe,  witli  which  he 
carved  vast  circles  through  the  ah*  within  its  radius.  It  would 
seem  that  nothing  could  come  within  that  radius  and  live.  Yet 
must  the  attempt  be  made.  With  desperate  resolution  did  Hugh 
spring  within  the  enchanted  circle ;  but  as  he  did  so,  uplifting 
sword  and  shield  to  guard  his  head,  his  foot  slipped  in  a  viscous 
puddle  which  seemed  of  human  gore.  As  he  fell,  he  saw  Marian's 
smile  of  inviting  tenderness  change  to  a  scowl  of  gloomy  con 
tempt.  As  he  fell,  he  saw  the  huge  battle-axe  of  the  arch-enemy 
descending  with  lightning  rapidity.  It  was  rushing  down  with 
a  hurtling  roar.  Another  instant  it  would  crush — did  crush  him 
— with  an  irresistible  force,  and  he  felt  his  own  blood  running 
into  and  blinding  his  eyes !  By  a  despairing  effort  he  dashed 


234  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

aside  the  gore  and  stared  before  him  ;  immediately  opposite,  with 
his  head  thrust  through  a  shattered  panel  of  the  chamber  door, 
were  the  imperturbable  features  of  Mr.  Sloper,  and  on  the  pillow 
beside  him  was  that  gentleman's  sombrero,  which  had  been  launch 
ed  with  such  accuracy  as  to  strike  Hugh  between  the  eyes  and  so 
recall  him  to  consciousness. 

"Air  you  two  goin'  to  git  fried  or  biled  this  mornin  T  .inquired 
Lafayette.  "Or,"  he  added,  sarcastically,  "  hev  ye  an  itch  for 
gittin'  griddled u?  There  ain't  much  time  for  ch'ice,  the  hull  town 
bein'  afire,  and  the  next  buildin'  in  a  light  blaze !" 

To  rush  to  the  window  and  dash  it  open,  and  thus  to  verify 
the  truth  of  Mr.  Sloper's  assertion,  was  the  work  of  an  instant. 
It  took  scarcely  another  for  Hugh  to  rouse  the  Doctor,  to  un 
lock  the  door,  and  to  hurry  on  such  of  his  garments  as  he  had 
doffed  for  the  night. 

"  I  couldn't  make  ye  hear  by  hollerin,' "  observed  Mr.  Sloper, 
quietly  taking  a  chew  of  tobacco,  "nor  yit  bust  the  lock  off  by 
kickin' ;  so  I  did  the  next  best  thing  and  smashed  in  the  panel 
with  a  harmer.  Reckon  ye'd  have  got  roasted  in  ten  minutes 
more!" 

"  Good  Heavens  I"  cried  the  Doctor,  dividing  his  time  be 
tween  a  hasty  toilette,  the  collection  of  his  medicines,  and  rapid 
reconnoitring  from  the  windows.  "How  is  it?  How  did  it 
happen  ?" 

"  Old  Nick  knows,"  returned  Lafayette,  "and  he  won't  tell. 
Arter  the  big  mucchants  hev  sold  off  all  their  truck  and  got  the 
dust,  some  folks  think  they  kind  o'  git  up  this  sort  of  thing  as  a 
clear  in'  out  sale ;  so's  to  send  accaounts  to  consignors  that  their 
goods  is  stepped  aout.  But  ye'd  best  scratch  gravel  if  ye  don't 
want  your  har  frizzled!" 

Here  the  speaker  discovered  that  there  were  some  boxes,  well 
nailed  and  secured,  stored  at  one  end  of  the  room,  and  with 
great  skill  and  celerity  he  broke  one  of  them  open  with  his 
"harmer."  An  exclamation  followed  by  the  knocking  off  of 
the  neck  of  a  bottle  at  once  revealed  the  nature  of  the  contents 
— foreign  spirits — wherewith  Mr.  Sloper  instantly  made  intimate 
acquaintance.  Not  content  with  this,  he  straightway  began  to 
drop  the  boxes  out  of  window,  to  which  employment  he  appear 
ed  to  be  stimulated  by  the  outcries  and  remonstrances  from  the 
now  swarming  crowd  below.  That  the  bottles  would  almost 
certainly  break  and  the  contents  be  wasted  in  the  process  gave 
Lafayette  no  apparant  concern.  He  seemed  to  consider  the  oc 
casion  a  sort  of  repetition  of  "a  Time,"  and  one  on  which  his 
singular  passion  for  uproar  and  grotesque  confusion  might  safe- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  235 

ly  be  indulged.  Having  thrown  out  all  the  boxes,  he  now  pro 
ceeded  to  hurl  out  the  beds,  followed  by  the  chairs  and  tables  of 
the  room,  until  a  general  roar  of  execration  from  below  and  the 
exhaustion  of  material  induced  him  to  desist. 

"By  hokey !"  he  suddenly  exclaimed  at  this  stage  of  his  pro 
ceedings,  "  I  snum,  I  forgot  to  tell  ye  that  thar's  a  kag  full  o' 
pound  canisters  o'  gunpowder  down  close  to  the  door,  and  like 
enough  we'd  better  vacate,  quicker !" 

This  startling  intelligence  was  followed  by  a  retreat  more  rapid 
than  dignified, "Hugh  clinging  fast  to  Marian's  package  as  the 
Doctor  did  to  his  drugs.  They  had  scarcely  quitted  the  build 
ing  before  it  was  enveloped  in  flames  ;  and  although  the  "'  kag" 
of  gunpowder — which  was  a  receptable  of  the  size  of  a  pipe — 
had  been  rolled  down  the  street  and  into  the  dock  at  its  foot,  the 
danger  of  staying  much  longer  in  the  building  would  scarcely 
have  been  greater  had  it  remained.  For  the  fire  spread  with 
appalling  swiftness.  It  sprang  from  the  windows  whence  Sloper 
had  cast  the  boxes  almost  as  soon  as  they  reached  the  street ;  and 
in  five  minutes  more  it  was  leaping  and  running  and  greedily 
licking  at  every  scrap  of  wood- work,  so'that  the  mass  looked  like 
a  fiery  cage. 

Nearly  the  whole  town  was  indeed,  as  Sloper  said,  in  flames. 
Almost  entirely  built  as  it  was  of  the  lightest  and  most  inflam 
mable  materials,  a  long  and  unusually  dry  season  had  prepared  it 
for  destruction  in  a  manner  which  the  first  few  days  of  rain  had 
done  little  to  neutralize.  Plouses  of  pine  boards,  houses  of  can 
vas,  houses  said  to  be  of  iron,  but  which  looked  like  shirred 
zinc,  were  swept  away,  licked  up,  rolled  up,  like  so  much  paste 
board  or  parchment,  as  the  devouring  element  flew  ruthlessly  on. 
As  usual,  a  high  wind  lent  fury  to  the  flames,  and  as  men  rushed 
hither  and  thither  in  all  the  mad  excitement  and  confusion  which 
great  danger  and  swift  destruction  so  often  engender,  there  were 
vague  rumors  passing  from  lip  to  lip  of  human  beings  further 
"up  town,"  who  had  perished  miserably,  roasted  in  their  beds. 
The  fire  was  sweeping  towards  the  bay ;  and  as  it  came  crushing 
and  devastating  on,  there  passed  before  it  a  fringe  of  carts,  boxes 
and  chattels  of  numberless  descriptions,  which  the  owners  or 
others  had  rescued  from  destruction,  and  which  still  retreated  be 
fore  the  victorious  enemy  as  he  marched  nearer  and  nearer  to 
the  bay.  Before  him,  all  was  a  glittering,  fleeing,  smoke-swathed 
crush ;  behind,  a  mere  barren,  blackened  char.  Presently  the 
streets  themselves — they  were  all  made  of  planks  in  those  days — 
were  caught  by  the  flames,  and  further  arid  further  the  fringe 
of  people  and  their  goods  were  forced  towards  the  water.  A  lit- 


236  MAKIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

tie  more  and  the  fringe  would  be  overtaken  and  consumed.  All 
manner  of  efforts  were  made  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  cue 
— tearing  down,  blowing  up,  drenching  him  with  the  waters  of 
the  sea — but  in  vain.  March  in  triumph  he  would  to  the  very 
edge  and  border  of  the  bay.  Then  the  people  and  their  proper 
ty  were  driven  to  a  new  expedient ;  they  removed  each  and  all— 
their  goods  and  their  persons — to  the  long  wharves,  produced 
from  the  principal  streets,  and  stretching  at  right  angles  to  the 
:  shore  forth  into  the  harbor  ;  they  carried  all  to  these  havens  of 
safety,  and  then  with  axes  they  cut  the  wharves  away  and  isola 
ted  themselves  from  the  main  land. 

On  one  of  these  wharves  stood-  the  Doctor  surrounded  by 
claret  boxes,  cooking-stoves,  wheelbarrows,  crates  of  crockery, 
and  almost  every  conceivable  article  of  furniture,  clothing,  and 
general  household  gear.  He  had  been  deserted  by  his  two  com 
panions,  for  Hugh  had  flown  like  the  wind  to  assure  himself  of  the 
safety  of  Marian,  and  Mr.  Sloper  was  making  himself  more  busy 
than  he  ever  was  before  in  his  life  in  numberless  mysterious  ope 
rations  connected  with  salvage,  waifs  and  strays,  and  other  dis 
interested  supervision  of  Bother  people's  goods.  In  a  few  min 
utes  more,  the  conflagration  had  extended  so  that  scarcely  any 
thing  of  the  shore  could  be  seen.  There  were  vast  columns  of 
rolling  and  eddying  smoke ;  black,  brown,  and  blue,  mixed  here 
and  there  with  white  vapor ;  at  intervals  a  fierce,  reddening 
glare  told  where  the  fire  raged  hottest ;  at  intervals  a  dull  explo 
sion  told  where  the  engineers  were  blowing  up  buildings  to  stop 
the  progress  of  the  flames  ;  yet  there  was  little  to  see  or  hear, 
towards  the  land,  save  the  repetition  of  these  same  sights  and 
sounds.  But  in  the  bay  there  were  now  swift  motion  and  excite 
ment  ;  for  the  ships  began  to  be  warped  or  tugged  from  their 
dangerous  berths  at  the  wharves,  and  two  or  three  of  them  were 
already  on  fire.  Then  those  adjacent  commenced  frantic  efforts 
to  escape  from  their  dangerous  neighbors,  and  the  air  rang  with 
shouts  and  imprecations  from  the  imperilled  craft,  each  struggling 
to  avoid  the  others. 

Small  time  had  the  Doctor  to  admire  either  the  picturesque- 
ness  or  the  horrors  of  the  scene,  for  soon  two  or  three  poor  fej- 
lows  with  mangled  limbs,  dragged  from  the  fire  where  they  had 
been  striving  to  save  life  or  property,  and  who  in  so  doing  had 
Been  crushed  by  falling  beams,  were  brought  in  boats  to  the 
wharf;  and,  at  once  volunteering  his  aid,  he  was  quickly  too  much 
engrossed  for  any  cares  beside  the  merciful  ones  of  his  calling. 

Meanwhile  Hugh  had  flown  through  the  town,  many  times 
thwarted  in  the  direction  he  strove  to  take  by  the  flames,  but  sue- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  237 

ceeding  at  last  in  reaching  the  house  of  M.  Bellot.  Happily  it 
was  a  considerable  distance  to  windward  of  the  spot  where  the 
conflagration  had  originated,  and  there  was  no  anxiety  on  the 
part  of  the  inmates  as  to  their  own  safety.  But  Marian  could 
not  well  conceal  the  joy  with  which  she  saw  Gifford  alive  and 
well;  for  the  calamity  had  befallen  with  even  greater  than  com 
mon  rapidity,  and  she  had  already  heard  that  persons  had  per 
ished  in  the  flames,  and  well  knew  that  Hugh's  lodging  was 
directly  in  the  track  over  which  the  wind  would  carry  them. 
There  was,  however,  no  tune  for  sentiment,  since  M.  Bellot  had 
ascertained  from  the  officials  that  the  steamship  would  sail  with 
out  regard  to  the  fire ;  and  that,  indeed,  as  a  change  of  wind 
might  endanger  her  own  berth  and  make  it  necessary  to  drop 
into  the  stream  before  the  hour  fixed  for  sailing,  it  would  be  well 
for  passengers  to  go  on  board  directly.  Marian's  luggage  had 
already  b£en  despatched,  and  after  much  embracing  of  the  weep 
ing  family,  and  innumerable  kisses  of  the  children,  who  were  in 
consolable  because  not  allowed  to  see  their  governess  to  the 
ship,  herself,  M.  Bellot,  and  Gifford  entered  the  carriage  which 
was  waiting  at  the  door  and  drove  at  once  to  the  "  Golden  Age." 

The  great  black  steamer  was  heaving  and  throbbing  convul 
sively  ;  for  steam  was  up,  and  the  fierce  blasts  of  white  vapor  were 
driving  through  her  pipes  with  a  hoarse,  warning  cry,  which  rose 
above  the  crumbling  roar  of  the  conflagration.  Through  two 
gangways  running  from  the  wharf,  up  and  down  her  steep 
sides,  a  restless  mass  of  human  beings  were  crowding,  jostling 
and  struggling  as  if  their  lives  depended  on  getting  that  very 
instant  on  or  off  the  ship.  There  were  crowds  of  successful  mi 
ners,  of  ingenious  agents,  of  promoted  tailors,  of  artful  adventur 
ers  who  had  married  great  washerwomen,  of  cabmen  become 
millionaires,  of  scholars  playing  porter  and  carrying  trunks  and 
bags  as  they  forced  their  way  up  the  critical  incline,  of  lucky 
gamblers,  of  magnificent  nigger  singers,  of  gorgeously  peremp 
tory  ladies  of  the  town,  some  going,  some  here  to  bid  adieu  to 
others  who  were  going,  but  all  crowding,  jostling,  struggling  as 
if  it  were  their  last  day  to  live,  or  as  if  they  composed  an  Amer 
ican  assemblage  of  the  olden  time  on  its  way  to  dinner. 

Through  such  a  mass  of  seething  humanity  did  Hugh  and  M. 
Bellot  almost  cany  Marian  up  the  gangway,  feeling  when  they 
got  to  the  top  much  as  warriors  must  feel  who  have  carried  an 
enemy's  rampart  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Once  there,  the 
task  was  somewhat  easier,  although  by  no  means  finished. 
They  had  next  to  find  Marian's  state-room,  which  she  was  to 
share  with  a  lady,  a  relative  of  the  captain's  wife,  who  acconipa- 


238  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

nied  him  on  the  passage.  While  Hugh  devoted  himself  to  this 
search,  the  Frenchman,  with  his  usual  promptness  aud  good-na 
ture,  ran  to  see  that  her  effects  were  not  lost  in  the  confusion, 
but  placed  in  the  state-room,  where  she  could  have  easy  access  to 
them.  And  thus,  amid  the  clanging  of  bells,  the  rush  of  steam, 
the  Babel  of  voices,  and,  covering  all  and  pervading  all,  the 
smoke  and  horror  of  the  great  fire,  Marian  and  Gifford  were  to 
say  good-bye. 

It  was  perhaps  as  well  that  such  an  adieu  should  be  surrounded 
by  so  noisy,  engrossing,  and  terrible  a  scene,  for  mutual  fears 
for  mutual  safety  had  softened  him  and  weakened  her  to  a  degree 
that  might  otherwise  have  been  dangerous  ;  dangerous,  to  Hugh's 
honor,  dangerous  to  Marian's  self-respect.  He  saw  her  safely 
into  the  little  room  which  was  for  some  weeks  to  be  her  home  ; 
saw  that  it  looked  comfortable  and  seemed  well  situated,  opening 
into  what  was  termed  the  ladies'  saloon.  He  saw,  too,  that 
Marian  was  very  pale,  and  remembered  long  after  how  much  she 
seemed  affected  by  the  excitement  and  confusion.  He  went  to 
fetch  her  a  glass  of  iced-water,  and  by  the  time  he  returned  M. 
Bellot  was  busy  directing  his  porter  how  to  place  Marian's  boxes 
so  as  to  take  least  room,  and  be  in  the  most  convenient  spots. 
That  done,  a  fiercer  shriek  than  ever  arose  from  the  impatient 
demon  who,  weaiy  of  being  confined,  was  to  force  the  ship  on 
her  way  ;  whereupon  a  sort  of  alarm-bell  was  rung,  and  then  a 
cry  ran  through  the  vessel,  up  and  down  the  decks,  up  and  down 
the  saloons,  was  screamed  through  all  the  passages  and  echoed 
into  all  the  state-rooms,  to  the  purport  that  all  save  passengers 
must  now  go  on  shore.  M.  Bellot  had  said  farewell  in  his  own 
kindly  and  fatherly  way,  and  tried  to  press  upon  Marian  more 
money  than  she  had  earned  or  would  accept,  and  undertaken  the 
transport  of  all  manner  of  apocryphal  kisses  by  way  of  final  adieux 
to  the  children  and  their  mamma,  and  he  now  briskly  started  for 
the  gangway,  inviting  Hugh  to  follow.  The  latter  had  been 
hurriedly  saying  something  to  Marian  about  writing,  but  she 
would  not  promise  now — perhaps  she  would  write  to  him — after 
a  time — but  she  would  not  promise.  "  Don't  lose  what  I  placed 
for  you  in  the  packet,"  she  said  to  him  at  the  last.  And  "Not 
while  I  live,"  he  answered,  and  then  there  came  another  great, 
warning  screech  from  the  steam  whistle. 

"Farewell,  Marian  !" 

"  Farewell!  a  hundred  tunes  !     And — and  don't  go  backward, 
Hugh  !" 

"  Not  while  I  can  see  you  in  memory  as  I  see  you  now,"  he 
said,  thickly  ;  and,  as  he  spoke,  he  pressed  on  her  finger  and 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  239 

into  her  hand  a  ring  and  a  brooch— -of  very  plain  workmanship, 
but  made  of  the  first  gold  which  Hugh  himself  had  dug  on  Arm 
strong's  Bar. 

"  Our  Father  will  guide  you,  Hugh,"  whispered  Marian,  the 
tears  flocking  into  her  eyes.  With  an  impulse  he  could  not  resist, 
GhTord  clasped  her  in  his  arms  and  kissed — not  her  lips  or  her 
cheek,  but  that  lovely  brow  of  hers. 

"  'Tis  only  once,'*  he  muttered,  "  only  once — the  first — the 
last.  May  our  Father  protect  and  guard  you,  now  and  for  ever, 
darling  Marian  !"  And  he  rushed  from  the  room.  He  was  the 
last  to  dash  down  the  plank  as  the  lines  were  manned  to  with 
draw  it,  and  so  to  sever  the  ship  from  the  shore.  In  another 
moment  the  sable  monster  was  dropped  into  the  stream. 

As  Hugh  sprang  on  the  wharf  he  found  himself  in  a  group 
whereof  Judge  Skewer,  Mr.  Gallus,  and  Mr.  McCracken  were 
members,  they,  together  with  Mr.  Collector  Scalpgitter,  two  edi 
tors,  two  aldermen,  and  the  keeper  of  a  fashionable  groggery, 
having  been  drinking  champagne  with  the  captain  in  his  cabin. 
His  friends  would  have  detained  him,  but  Gilford  escaped  them 
almost  rudely,  for  he  was  resolved  to  make  with  all  speed  to  the 
wharf  where  he  knew  he  should  find  the  Doctor  ;  from  its  ex 
tremity  he  could  get  a  last  sight  of  the  steamship—- wave  a  last 
farewell  to  Marian.  He  had  greater  difficulty  than  before,  for 
now  the  air  was  filled  not  only  with  smoke,  but  with  cinders ;  and 
part  of  the  ground  he  crossed  had  actually  been  traversed  by  the 
fire.  The  sky  above  was  all  of  an  angry  glow,  and  the  sun, 
which  now  required  no  eagle's  eye  to  gaze  upon  it,  looked  a  mere 
copper  ball.  The  explosions  still  continued,  for  the  fury  of  the 
fire  was  at  its  height.  He  found  that  even  some  of  the  wharves 
which  had  been  cut  away  had  been  ignited  by  falling  brands  ;  so 
that  it  required  ceaseless  care  on  the  parts  of  those  who  had  taken 
refuge  on  them  to  save  themselves  and  the  goods  on  the  wharves 
from  common  destruction.  Still  these  places  of  refuge  were  safer 
than  any  others,  and  accordingly  some  of  them  were  packed 
close  with  people.  Not  so  that  on  which  was  the  Doctor ;  it  had 
been  one  of  the  earliest  endangered,  and  therefore  one  of  the  first 
saved  from  the  flames,  and,  as  access  could  only  thereafter  be 
had  to  it  by  boats,  very  few  persons  except  the  original  refugees 
had  repaired  thither.  Hugh  managed  to  find  a  man  who,  for  a 
couple  of  dollars,  would  take  the  trouble  of  a  dozen  strokes  of 
the  oar  and  land  him  on  the  wharf;  and  as  he  walked  swiftly 
toward  the  seaward  end,  on  which  were  some  low  sheds  or  store 
houses,  he  saw  the  same  boatman  take  up  the  Judge  and  his  com 
panions,  Avho  were  evidently  resolved  to  follow  in  his  wake  and 
find  shelter  in  the  same  place. 


240  MARIA*  ROOKE;  OR, 

He  quickly  gained  the  end  of  the  structure,  without  pausing  to 
look  into  the  buildings,  or  to  notice  more  than  that  they,  as  well 
as  the  platform  they  stood  on,  were  crammed  and  overflowing 
with  boxes,  bales,  packages,  merchandise  of  every  description,  and 
that  almost  every  one  he  met  was  covered  with  soot  and  filth 
from  head  to  foot.  Amid  the  tumult  and  destruction  of  a  scene 
the  like  of  which  he  had  never  known  or  even  pictured  to  him 
self  before,  he  had  but  one  thought — of  Marian  ;  and  if  he 
thought  of  the  surrounding  horror,  even  for  a  moment,  it  was  in 
her  connection,  as  that  the  angel  of  peace  was  sailing  far  away, 
in  whose  absence  the  confusion  must  needs  become  worse  con 
founded. 

Hugh  gained  the  end  of  the  wharf,  and  there,  with  his  back  to 
the  burning  city,  he  once  more,  and  for  the  last  time,  saw  her. 
She  was  in  the  gallery  below  the  hurricane  deck,  and,  there  be 
ing  comparatively  few  near  the  spot,  her  figure  was  not  lost  in  a 
surrounding  throng.  She  stood  there  in  her  pale  lemon  dress, 
with  her  net  shawl,  and  her  massive  black  hair,  looking  just  as 
she  did  the  day  before  yesterday,  when  Hugh  first  saw  her  after 
he  had  come  down  from  the  mines.  The  coral  lips  were  parted 
with  an  anxious  look,  as  her  eyes  ranged  over  the  desolation  be 
yond  ;  but  as  the  vessel  forged  onwards,  she  presently  descried 
Hugh,  and  a  Sweet  smile  took  its  place.  A  sweet  smile,  but  a 
very  sad  one — such  as  comes  over  the  faces  of  tender 
hearted  women  who  are  striving  to  make  others  happy  when  they 
are  most  unhappy  themselves. 

The  great  crimson  wheels  turn  round  faster,  faster,  and  fast 
er  ;  the  puffs  of  thick  white  steam  cease  to  spring  from  the  pipes  ; 
the  red-ribbed,  star-dotted  ensigns  fly  up  to  the  peak  and  the 
fore;  a  jet  of  smoke  and  a  flash,  as  in  mockery  of  the  conflagra 
tion  left  behind,  a  hollow  boom  echoing  slowly  around  the  bay 
— and  the  steamship  is  flying  towards,  has  entered,  passed 
through  the  Golden  Gate,  the  vision  has  vanished,  and  Hugh  is 
left  alone. 

How  long  he  sat  there  he  did  not  know.  It  seemed  to  him 
as  if  the  night  must  be  near  before  he  stirred,  but  the  sulphur 
ous  pall  which  covered  alike  the  earth  and  the  sky  made  it  im 
possible  to  tell.  He  walked  towards  the  storehouses  at  last,  and 
presently  he  came  upon  Mr.  Sloper,  who  looked  like  a  large 
chimney  sweep,  sitting  in  a  sumptuous  brocaded  arm-chair,  and 
digging  sardines  out  of  a  box  with  his  bowie-knife.  By  his  side  was 
a  broken  case  of  brandy,  and  what  he  would  have  called  a  "  kag  " 
of  biscuit  or  crackers.  Judge  Skewer  and  his  friends  were  also 
here  partaking  of  these  dainties  with  the  greatest  avidity. 


THE  .QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  241 

"  Come  and  git  sumthin'  to  eat,"  invited  Sloper,  with  unusual 
cordiality.  "  I  called  ye  'bout  fourteen  times  afore,  but  ye  seemed 
to  be  sot  on  staring  at  Alcatraz  Island." 

"  Smashed  on  a  gal  in  a  yaller  dress,"  amended  Judge 
Skewer;  ''that  'ere  is  the  Gineral's  complaint.  I  seed  her  on 
the  boat,  and  if  I'd  a  been  the  Gineral  I'd  a  fit  hard  afore  I'd  let 
her  slope." 

"  Any  way,"  pursued  Lafayette,  "  Island  or  gal,  don't  let  it 
spile  your  appetite.  These  here  air  minners  or  shiners,  and  they're 
jist  soddered  up  in  their  own  ile.  And,  if  ye  like  'em  better, 
we've  laid  in  can  chickens,  lobsters  and  oysters  to  last  a  month 
o'  Sundays." 

••  And  if  ye  don't  cotton  to  this  'ere  rot,"  added  the  Judge, 
quaffing  a  generous  horn  of  brandy,  "there's  claret,  champagne, 
forty-rod  rum,  and  old  rye  in  Liberty  Hall  there !" 

"  Liberty  Hall?"  said  Gifford,  in  the  way  of  inquiry. 

"Nuthin'  shorter,"  replied  Lafayette,  proudly/  "It's  a  hard 
day's  work,  but  I  done  it.  Come  and  Aspect." 

He  led  the  way,  and  the  party  entered  the  largest  of  the  sheds, 
over  the  door  of  which  now  appeared  a  rude  sign  inscribed  with 
the  legend : 

L.  SLOPER  &  Co., 

COMMISSION  MERCHANTS. 

In  this  building  were  heaped  barrels,  cases  of  spirits,  teas, 
sugars,  and  groceries  of  eveiy  description.  There  were  also 
boxes  of  silks,  bandas,  and  Chinese  shawls,  as  could  been  seen  by 
the  labels.  There  were  fine  laces  and  codfish,  jewelry  and  pre 
served  meats,  ladies'  gloves  and  pickled  salmon.  Near  the  door 
stood  a  child's  rocking-horse  and  a  barber's  chair.  On  one  side 
were  two  huge  oil  paintings  of  Venuses  or  something  worse,  and 
opposite  to  these  a  cheval-glass.  In  one  corner  stood  a  gentle 
man  richly  dressed,  with  a  remarkably  urbane,  albeit  somewhat 
flassy  expression,  whom  Hugh  remembered  to  have  seen  doing 
uty  in  the  window  of  a  fashionable  tailor  of  Montgomery  Street 
the  day  before.  There  were  saddles  and  bridles  in  profusion, 
and,  in  divers  mysterious  wheels  and  green  and  red  cloths, 
could  be  recognized  some  of  the  tools  of  the  gambling  fraternity. 

"It  took  me  aheap  o'  labor,"  observed  Mr.  Sloper,  survey 
ing  the  field  after  the  manner  in  which  Napoleon  might  have 
contemplated  that  of  Austerlitz,  "  specially  the  hullsale  parcels. 
But  I  fetch't  'em  at  last." 

"  Ah  !"  exclaimed  Hugh,  a  sudden  light  coming  upon  him  and 


242  MARIAN    ROOKE;    OR, 

showing  how  selfishly  he  had  passed  the  day  while  some  had 
thus  devoted  themselves  to  saving  the  property  of  others  ;  "  Ah ! 
I  see  ;  and  very  handsome  conduct  of  you,  I'm  sure,  to  run  such 
risks,  and  take  such  pains  to  rescue  the  poor  people's  property. 
They  ought  to  feel  exceedingly  grateful  to  you!" 

"  Otro  tiempo;  no  entiende,"  suggested  the  Judge,  with  a  puz 
zled  air. 

"Say  that  agin,"  freely  translated  Mr.  Sloper  ;  and  Hugh  re 
peated  the  substance  of  what  he  had  said,  whereat  such  a  burst 
of  volcanic  laughter  flew  from  the  •  company  that  he  thought  he 
must  have  made  some  odd  mistake,  especially  as  the  laughter  ran 
into  another  peal,  and  tjien  another,  until  the  rickety  building 
shook  again. 

"Look  a  thai*  !"  finally  commanded  Mr.  Sloper,  sternly. 
"  What  is  it,  let  me  put  it  to  ye,  that  ye  see  thar  ?" 

Gifford  looked  as  ordered  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  innumera 
ble  boxes,  and  read  the  cabalistic  legend  again  of  "  L.  Sloper  & 
Co."  He  looked  at  others  ;  and  every  one  bore  the  same  in 
scription. 

'  Now."  continued  Lafayette,  "  Avhat  d'ye  say  to  that  ?" 
"Well,  really,  I  don't  know  what  to  say.'' 
"  Very  well,  then,  I'll  tell  ye.  Them  as  had  them  goods  air 
now,  many  on  'em,  makin'  out  their  accaounts  to  send  hum  to 
the  owners,  the  consignors  ;  in  them  accaounts  not  only  these 
here  goods  air  sot  down  as  burnt  up,  but,  likewise,  all  they've 
sold  and  got  the  money  fur  in  the  last  six  months.  Which  bein' 
the  case,  in  the  interest  of  the  absent  owners,  L.  Sloper  becomes 
an  auctioneer  and  a  commission  merchant.  Jest  as  quick  as  the 
fire  gits  put  aout,  the  goods  goes  under  the  banner,  and  Sloper 
and  Company  belts  the  proceeds  !" 

With  this  elucidation,  the  details  of  which  it  may  be  added 
were  subsequently  religiously  earned  out,  Mr.  Sloper  excused 
himself  for  a  few  moments,  and,  in  company  with  Judge  Skewer,  , 
retired  to  an  inner  apartment.  The  Doctor  now  emerged  from 
another  of  the  buildings,  gaining  some  respite  at  last  in  the 
care  of  the  poor  creatures  he  had  been  attending,  other  sur 
gical  aid  having  arrived  from  the  City  Hospital.  Hugh  will 
ingly  acceded  to  his  companion's  proposal  to  depart  from  the 
unfortunate  town  as  soon  as  possible;  he  had  no  longer  any 
motive  for  wishing  to  stay.  They  learned,  however,  that  their 
departure  must  necessarily  be  postponed  until  the  following  day, 
for  the  Sacramento  boat  had  been  so  injured  by  the  fire  that  she 
was  taken  off  the  line  for  a  week  at  least,  and  passengers  must 
wait  for  her  sister  craft,  now  on  the  upward  trip. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  243 

While  they  were  regretting  this  casualty,  Mr.  Sloper  and  the 
Judge  once  more  presented  themselves,  but  in  for  different  guise 
from  that  in  which  they  had  disappeared.  They  had  both  been 
begrimed  with  smoke,  and  daubed  and  battered  to  the  last  de 
gree  by  the  vicissitudes  of  the  day,  but  they  now  appeared  as 
spruce  and  dainty  as  the  tailor's  block  in  the  warehouse.  Each 
was  arrayed  in  a  new  suit  of  clothes  of  what  seemed  costly  ma 
terial,  with  hats  and  gloves  to  match,  of  the  choicest  quality. 
Mr.  Sloper's  red  shirt,  old  trousers,  and  miner's  boots,  had,  like 
the  ancient  checked  suit  and  white  hat  of  the  Judge,  been  offered 
up  to  Neptune,  and  by  this  time  were  spinning  gaily  away  with 
the  tide  in  the  wake  of  the  vanished  steamer.  While  Hugh  was 
gazing  in  surprise  at  these  metamorphoses,  Lafayette  led  him 
apart,  and  turning  his  head  on  one  side  and  riveting  his  eye  with 
stern  meaning,  after  his  custom  when  about  to  be  signally 
impressive,  he  put  five  eagles  in  his  companion's  hand,  and 
said : 

";Them  air  your'n." 

"Mine?"  echoed  Gifford.. 

"  Your'n.  I  don't  never  go  back  on  no  pal,  I  don't.  I  don't 
bet  nuthin'  on  the  Britisher,  and  he  kin  skin  his  own  skunks,  he 
kin.  But  them's  your  brads,  them  air." 

"  But  how  came  they  so?" 

i;  When  you  quit  the  table  arter  Quagge  and  his  gang  got 
jawin',  ye  left  ten  chips  behind  ye.  That's  so.  I  jest  messed 
'em  up  with  my  pile,  and  when  I  knocked  off — which  was  when 
the  fire  broke  aout — I  had  jest  five  times  as  much  as  when  you 
left  the  ranch." 

"  But  I  don't  want  it.  I  didn't  win  it.  I'll  take  ten,  because 
I  left  them,  but  for  the  rest,  I'd  rather -" 

"If  you  don't  belt  them  brads,  pooty  darned  quick,"  inter 
rupted  Mr.  Sloper,  with  a  highly  ferocious  and  determined  air, 
"  all  I  kin  say  is  that  you  and  me' 11  differ." 

Thus  admonished,  Hugh  prudently  pocketed  the  gold,  and 
Lafayette  walked  away  quite  satisfied.  The  night  was  now  fast 
advancing,  and  after  procuring  some  little  refreshment,  neither  the 
Doctor  nor  Gifford  were  sorry  to  stretch  themselves  in  a  loft 
over  the  warehouse  of  L.  Sloper  and  Co.,  and  to  try  and  re 
cover  in  sleep  from  the  toils  and  excitements  of  the  day.  Hugh 
was  not  so  successful  as  his  heart-whole  senior,  for  although  he 
fell  asleep  without  difficulty,  he  awoke  shortly  after  midnight,  and 
all  his  subsequent  attempts  to  lose  his  consciousness  completely 
failed.  He  looked  forth  from  a  tiny  window  which  opened 
on  the  town  ;  the  fire  was  still  burning,  although  exhausted  in 


244  MARIAN  KOOKE;   OR, 

many  places,  and  what  had  looked  like  mountains  of  blazing 
light  were  now  mere  chasms,  pits,  of  inky  desolation.  The  smoke 
and  cinders  were  everywhere  blackening  the  sky,  shrouding  the 
earth,  and  even  hiding  the  sea.  Faint  crashes  could  still  be 
heard  in  the  distance,  and  now  and  again  fresh  showers  of  red 
sparks  would  leap  high  into  the  air,  showing  where  a  new  ex 
plosion  had  occurred  or  another  roof-tree  had  fallen. 

Hugh  saw  lights  also  through  chinks  in  the  partition  on  the 
further  side  of  the  room,  and  he  peered  through  to  ascertain 
their  cause.  There  he  saw  the  Judge  and  Sloper,  and  Gallus  and 
McCracken,  and  Belcher  Gay  and  half-a-dozen  others  whom  he 
did  not  know,  enthusiastically  engaged  in  a  game  of  faro.  They 
had  their  cloth,  their  silver  box,  their  chips,  their  gold  coin,  and 
the  Judge  was  dealing  and  the  others  were  drinking  and  betting 
against  his  bank  as  merrily  as  Nero  might  have  done  had  faro 
been  known  to  old  Rome. 

Hugh  sighed  at  the  spectacle,  and  turned  for  relief  toward  the 
sea.  He  thought — and  thought  rightly — that  perhaps  another 
heart,  another  eye,  might  be  turned  toward  his  own  in  the  gloomy 
night,  in  the  contemplation  of  which  he  might  forget  the  sordid 
Bacchanals  close  by.  And  Marian  was  indeed  thinking  of  him 
at  that  moment,  and  praying  with  all  her  heart  for  his  happiness 
and  for  his  good ;  which  finished,  she  had  strained  her  eyes  in 
striving  to  catch,  far  northwards,  a  parting  glimpse  of  the  land  be 
hind — but  she  saw  only  a  lurid  cloud. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

HUGH  GIFFORD  had  resumed  his  old  life  at  Armstrong's  Bar — 
his  old  life  in  things  external,  but  a  new  and  critical  one  for 
things  within.  A  struggle  was  going  on  in  his  soul  the  end  of 
which  no  one,  not  himself,  could  tell.  The  love,  the  best  love  of 
which  this  man  was  capable,  was  a  thing  of  slow  growth.  When 
he  first  saw  Marian  Rooke  he  had  admired,  indeed,  but  he  had 
not  loved  her ;  nor  would  he  have  done  so  had  his  feelings  been 
altogether  free.  For  although  by  nature  exceedingly  susceptible 
to  beautiful  things,  his  early  life  had  taught  him  an  instinctive 
caution  not  only  as  to  showing,  but  as  to  yielding  even  secretly 
to,  such  emotions.  His  mind  oscillated  between  a  sort  of  enthu 
siastic  worship  for  every  lovely  thing  he  saw,  and  a  suspicious 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  245 

dread  lest  such  an  opening  of  his  heart  might  tempt  the  entrance 
of  something  which  should  bring  pain.  Suspicion  as  to  sincer 
ity,  suspicion  as  to  fidelity,  of  course  had  their  share  in  produc 
ing  such  a  mental  warp ;  but  when  suspicion  was  once  disarmed, 
when  doubt  was  once  cleared  away,  the  natural,  vmwarped  dis 
position  of  the  man  had  full  sway.  It  may  be  thought  strange 
that  Hugh  should  have  been  most  free  from  the  caution  and  sus 
picion  which  were  his  blemishes,  precisely  at  those  times  when 
he  was  meditating,  consciously  or  unconsciously;  treason  to  Vir 
ginia  Chester.  But  a  great  passion  which  purges  the  bosom  of 
many  an  unworthiness  beside,  has  no  compunction  for  the  crime 
by  which  alone  it  itself  can  exist.  Hugh  Avas  capable — as  these 
doubters,  scoffers,  satirists,  men  looked  upon  with  general  distrust, 
fear,  or  aversion  almost  invariably  are— of  the  most  tenacious, 
unflinching  and  devoted  adherence  to  any  sentiment,  any  idea 
which  once  gained  possession  of  his  soul.  The  idea  or  the  sen 
timent,  slow  to  take  root  or  find  entrance,  wn  sin  that  proportion 
ineradicable  or  inexpugnable.  Long  ago  he  would  have  died  at 
the  stake  sooner  than  recant  his  faith.  He  would  have  clung  to 
the  fortunes  of  the  Stuarts  long  after  their  cause  was  unutterably 
hopeless,  and  have  died  a  persistent,  unvarying  Jacobite.  With 
a  large  amount  of  that  sagacity  which  is  swift  to  perceive  when 
anything  is  inconsistent  with  common  sense,  he  would  yet  have 
clung  to  a  faith  or  a  standard  when  hope  of  prevalence  was  ut 
terly  opposed  to  its  plainest  teachings.  Thus  it  was  that  when 
any  faint  hope  of  winning  Marian  through  any  possible  concur 
rence  of  events  was  put  out  of  the  question  by  her  departure — 
when  the  chance  which  was  slender  at  the  best  of  times  was  re 
duced  to  the  veriest  of  minimums  by  so  final  a  separation — Gif- 
ford  began  to  hug  his  illicit  passion  to  his  bosom,  to  cherish  it 
day  by  day,  to  live  in  it,  by  it,  through  it,  like  as  it  were  a  re 
ligion,  and  to  put  Ms  goddess  on  a  higher  pedestal  than  she  had 
ever  occupied  before.  He  resumed  his  old  life  at  Armstrong's 
Bar ;  but  the  Bar  was  not  the  same  place,  nor  was  he  the  same 
man  as  before  the  departure  of  Marian. 

His  visit  to  San  Francisco  had  not  tended  to  raise  his  self-es 
teem.  He  had  seen  a  great  many  vulgar  and  dishonest  men  all 
openly  and  unreservedly  proclaiming  their  devotion  to  one  thing — 
gold  getting.  But  in  what,  he  asked  himself,  was  he  better  than 
any  of  them  ?  Was  not  he  also  striving  to  get  gold  ?  Had  he 
not  habitually  set  this  desire  or  necessity  above  all  others  in  his 
own  estimation  1  What  was  the  difference  between  himself  and 
Sloper,  or  Judge  Skewer,  or  any  of  the  gamblers,  unless  it  lay  in 
the  fact  that  they  seemed  to  get  the  money  they  were  striving 


246  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

for  and  he  did  not?  What  advantage  did  he  reap  from  his 
classics,  his  mathematics,  his  law,  his  knowledge  of  belles-let 
tres,  which  had  cost  such  pains  to  acquire,  and  of  which  he  had 
formerly  been  so  proud1?  Alas,  they  could  not  help  him  to  a  sin 
gle  ounce  of  the  yellow  earth  all  were  so  desperately  struggling 
for ;  indeed,  he  remembered  that  although  his  acquaintances  in 
the  Golden  City  had  appeared  willing,  good-naturedly,  to  overlook 
his  obvious  educational  impediments,  it  was  clear  that  they  con 
sidered  them  such,  and  were  secretly  of  opinion  that  they  were 
likely  to  be  sevious  practical  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  success. 
Such  humiliating  reflections  were  not  likely  to  be  modified  by 
the  experience  of  the  Bar.  A  man  there  was  a  man,  and  noth 
ing  more.  The  only  one  of  the  company  who  could  be  said  to 
have  been  of  more  value  than  another  for  the  general  weal  was 
Dr.  Landale.  He,  indeed,  by  dint  of  the  theodolite — once  des 
pised  of  Dick  Railes,  now  reverenced  to  that  degree  that  he  would 
have  put  himself  under  its  tripod  as  it  were  a  car  of  Juggernaut 
— had  discovered  what  had  made  the  company  richer  for  a 
time,  and  had  received  his  due  meed  of  honor  and  consideration. 
But  with  this  exception,  the  democracy  was  complete.  Each 
had  his  share  and  no  more.  Hugh,  Luke,  Dick  Railes,  even 
poor  Ike,  stood  upon  the  same  platform ;  and  when  Hugh  had 
spoken  of  Luke's  ambition,  in  significant  allusion  to  his  supposed 
admiration  for  Marian,  he  had  forgotten  that,  so  far  as  worldly 
circumstances  went,  he  himself  could  claim  no  precedence.  If 
Luke  were  unworthy,  on  such  a  score,  of  Marian's  consideration, 
he,  Hugh,  was  no  less  so.  Having  thought  thus  far,  he  fell 
back  upon  his  old  remedy — the  only  panacea  after  all  for  his  par 
ticular  griefs  and  woes — the  only  ally  whose  aid  would  enable 
him  to  mount  into  his  fitting  social  position — the  sole  stepping- 
stone  whereby  he  could  ascend  so  as  to  be  seen  and  respected  of 
the  world — Gold. 

Gold !  He  would  have  it,  he  must  have  it.  What  had  he 
come  to  California  for  ?  To  crawl  about  with  these  wretched  dig 
gers,  earning  barely  enough  to  keep  soul  and  body  together,  like 
laborers  on  a  railway  ?  To  live  without  society,  without  litera 
ture,  without  appreciation  or  mingling  with  those  of  kindred 
sympathies,  of  similar  culture — for  now  that  Marian  was  gone, 
this  deficiency  was  felt  in  all  its  force — was  this  to  be  the  end, 
the  reward  of  his  aspirations  and  his  pilgrimage  ?  No ;  it  should 
not,  must  not  be.  He  must  have  gold,  ay,  and  plenty  of  it,  as  the 
indispensable  prerequisite  to  any  of  his  schemes,  his  plans  of  use 
fulness  or  honor  for  future  life.  But  how  to  set  about  it ! 
Were  not  all  there  equally  anxious  to  .grow  rich  with  himself? 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  247 

Or,  if  their  desires  were  not  quite  so  impatient  and  feverish  as  his 
own,  would  they  not  at  least  work  as  hard  and  as  willingly  as 
he  to  cany  them  out  ?  What  royal  road  could  he  devise  to  get 
more  swiftly  to  the  wished-for  goal?  What  device  could  he 
employ,  like  Aladdin's  lamp  or  Fortunatus'  purse,  to  outstrip 
competition,  to  supersede  that  duller,  yet  as  certain  talisman, 
hard,  patient,  determined  labor  ? 

;il  would  grow  rich,"  he  moaned,  "before  youth  has  passed 
away  ;  before  the  capacity  for  enjoyment  has  faded ;  before  the 
time  when  love  can  no  longer  be  inspired  or  friendship  made  ; 
before  travel  will  have  ceased  to  amuse  or  novelty  to  excite  ;  be 
fore  the  passions  and  sympathies  are  deadened  or  stiffened,  and 
life  has  become  a  mere  routine  of  monotonous  repetition  ;  before 
the  time  has  gone  by  when  I  shall  care  to  show  the  miserable, 
soulless  grubs  I  was  born  and  bred  among,  how  I  loathe  their 
lives,  their  practices,  their  sordid  examples ;  before  the  time 
when  the  spirit  shall  have  flown  to  denounce  and  hold  up  to  the 
world's  contempt  their  Pharisaical  lives,  their  knavish  trickeries, 
their  dastardly  hatred  of  all  that  is  superior  to  their  own  con 
temptible  standards..  But  how  to  set  about  it  1" 

How,  indeed  !  For  the  bright  promise  of  the  younger  days 
of  the  canon  had  been  but  imperfectly  fulfilled  as  time  wore  on. 
Mr.  Pangb'urn  had  been  guided  by  a  diabolical  instinct  when, 
rat -like,  he  had  quitted  the  falling  house,  adding  to  the  self-pre 
serving,  a  provident,  forethought  which  had  cost  his  companions 
all  their  accumulations.  The  yield  now  was  small,  not  so  little 
as  it  had  been  just  before  the  abandonment  of  the  surface  wash 
ings  on  the  river,  but  not  comparable  to  what  it  had  been  at  their 
best  of  seasons.  In  a  word,  it  was  such  as  would  have  obliged 
the  party  to  labor  for  a  term  of  years  before  they  could  reason 
ably  expect  to  save  even  modest  competencies.  To  be  sure,  there 
was  always  the  chance  of  another  windfall  like  the  discovery  of 
the  canon  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  an  equal  chance, 
to  say  the  least,  of  the  diggings  becoming  exhausted  altogether. 

This  was  not  a  very  bright  look-out  for  Hugh's  soaring  calcu 
lations  ;  and  he  became,  as  time  wore  on,  his  heart  oppressed 
with  unsatisfied  longings,  more  and  more  moody,  and  more  and 
more  desponding.  It  was  strange  he  never  thought  at  this  time 
that  through  poverty,  and  not  through  wealth,  any  chance  of 
winning  Marian  was  most  likely  to  lie.  That  is  to  say.  that 
while  in  the  event  of  his  becoming  rich  he  could  not  in  honor 
avoid  his  engagement  to  Virginia,  if  he  remained  poor,  her  father 
was  all  but  certain  to  do  his  utmost  to  emancipate  him  from  it. 
Instead  of  thinking  of  such  a  contingency,  Hugh  would  often 


248  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

muse  on  the  ease  with  which  he  might  follow  Marian,  go  where 
she  might,  even  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth,  if  this  great 
unbuilt  castle  in  Spain  of  his,  this  unearned  fortune,  could  by 
fairy,  or  any  other  means,  once  be  realized. 

When  Marian  had  made  up  the  package  of  gifts  for  him  to 
bring  to  the  Bar,  she  had  not  had  that  conversation  with  Hugh 
which  had  towards  its  conclusion,  as  it  were  by  a  lightning  flash, 
revealed  to  her  what  she  had  not  hitherto  suspected  as  to  his  feel 
ings.  Perhaps  if  she  had,  she  would  have  rearranged  its  con 
tents.  Her  gift  to  him  was,  to  say  the  least,  in  view  of  the  cir 
cumstances,  an  indiscreet  one.  But  the  girl,  with  all  her  self-re 
spect,  was  apt,  as  we  have  seen,  to  be  somewhat  unconventional. 
The  little  box  which  contained  this  gift  was  carefully  sealed,  and 
addressed  to  "  Hugh  Gifford,  Esq. ;"  and  that  gentleman  having 
distributed,  like  another  Santa  Glaus,  the  remaining  contents  of 
his  satchel,  had  kept  his  box  without  opening  it  for  two  days  after 
the  Doctor  and  he  had  returned  to  the  Bar.  He  did  not  open  it 
until  the  Sunday  which  next  ensued,  and  which  enabled  him  to 
stray  away  alone  to  one  of  the  haunts  Marian  and  he  had  often 
frequented ;  he  went  up  to  the  placid  lake  among  the  hills,  there, 
in  that  melancholy,  yet  grateful  retirement,  to  examine  and  gloat 
over  his  treasure. 

It  was  Marian's  picture.  A  very  small  miniature  taken  a  year 
or  two  back,  and  although,  as  was  natural,  not  looking  quite  so 
developed  as  the  original,  yet  a  striking  likeness.  It  was  in  a 
frame  evidently  very  much  older  than  itself,  a  frame  of  very  old- 
fashioned  make,  set  around  with  alternating  diamonds  and  pearls, 
and  having  a  cover  like  a  locket,  which  fastened  with  a  spring. 
The  likeness  was  remarkable.  There  were  the  lips  just  parted, 
as  Marian's  often  were,  the  nose  slightly  aquiline  and  so  deli 
cately  chiselled,  the  low  dreamy  brow,  the  wealth  of  glossy  raven 
hair,  and — more  than  all — there  were  the  large,  melting,  un 
speakably  lustrous  eyes, — eyes  with  their  outline  and  meaning  so 
distinct,  so  absolutely  real,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  shade 
which  the  longest  of  lashes  necessarily  cast  over  them.  Unequiv 
ocally,  it  was  Marian's  picture. 

So  that  Hugh  was  the  only  one  at  the  Bar  who  still  saw 
Marian  every  day  ;  but  he  was  not  the  only  one  who  thought  of 
her.  She  had  left  a  void  in  the  life  of  all,  although  it  was  a 
greater  void  with  some  than  with  others.  Thus,  the  old  people 
mourned  over  her  loss  quite  as  if  it  were  that  of  a  child,  and  Kitty 
could  not  have  cried  more  for  that  of  a  sister  ;  but  the  one  to 
whom  the  bereavement  came  hardest  was  poor  Luke.  He  it  was 
who  sat  wistfully  in  the  long  evenings  looking  at  Marian's  vacant 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  249 

chair  ;  he  it  was  who  carved  a  curious  rustic  bench  and  placed  it 
on  the  brink  -of  the  little  lake  among  the  hills  where  she  used  to 
love  to  sit  ;  he  who  built  bowers  at  either  end  of  the  favorite 
walk  by  the  river,  and  trained  wild  roses  and  jessamine  to  grow 
over  them.  It  might  have  seemed  too  marked  had  these  things 
been  done  when  Marian  was  living  and  moving  among  them  ; 
but  nobody  noticed  now  in  any  such  sense  what  were,  in  effect, 
only  so  many  little  monuments  to  her  memory. 

Gifford  saw  these  things,  and  saw  them  without  being  jealous. 
It  appeared  to  him  right  enough  that  since  Marian  was  lost  to 
them — as  well  as  to  him — and  for  ever,  that  sorrow  should  be  ex 
hibited  in  as  unreserved  a  form  as  any  who  felt  it  might  choose  to 
show.  One  day — it  was  Sunday — he  wandered  up  to  the  old 
place  and  found  Luke  sitting  on  the  bench  he  had  fashioned, 
and.  as  Luke  quietly  made  room  for  him,  he  sat  down  by  his 
side. 

"It  doesn't  seem  like  the  same  spot  now,"  he  said,  after  a 
pause,  and  as  if  answering  the  thoughts  of  his  companion. 

"No  more  like  it,"  answered  Luke,  seriously,  "than  the  little 
duck-pond  over  behind  grandfather's  barn  at  Old  Saybrook — 
that  was  where  I  was  born,  Mr.  Gifford,  and  memory's  sharp 
'bout  tilings  we  see  when  we  was  little — not  so  dull,  neither," 
he  added,  with  a  sigh,  "'bout  some  things  when  we  git 
older/' 

"Luke,"  said  Hugh,  after  another  pause,  and  with  a  swift  im 
pulse,  "now  she's  gone — gone,  and  we  are.  none  of  us,  I  sup 
pose,  ever  to  see  her  again — it  doesn't  so  much  matter  to  speak 
plainly  about  it.  You — you  were  very  fond  of  Miss  Rooke— of 
Marian,  weren't  you  *?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Luke,  simply. 

"  All  here  were,  to  be  sure,"  continued  Hugh,  accepting  the 
reply  in  a  general  sense  ;  "  but  you  felt  something  more  toward 
her  than  the  rest,  did  you  not  ?" 

"  I  don't  know  what  the  rest  felt,"  said  Luke,  "but  I  loved 
her  with  all  my  heart  and  with  all  my  soul." 

And  no  one  who  looked  in  his  honest  blue  eyes  could  have 
doubted  it. 

"And  would  you,"  Hugh  went  on  with  a  strange  sort  of 
curiosity,  "that  is,  supposing  no  obstacles  to  have  existed — 
would  you  have  married  her,  Luke?" 

"No,"  was  the  decided  reply. 

"  No  ?  You  love  her  so  deeply  and  would  not,  if  you  could, 
marry  her'?" 

"No." 

11* 


250  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"Why?" 

"  Because,"  and  the  worthy  fellow's  voice  trembled  as  he 
spoke,  "because  she  did  not  love  me" 

"Still,  people  get  to  love  others  in  time,  when  they  do  not  at 
first,  perhaps.  Some  natures  require,  as  it  were,  to  grow  into  a 
love  and  dependency  on  others.  By  perseverance — constancy 
— you  might  perhaps  have " 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Gifford !  why  should  I  seek  to  fidget  and  worry  a 
nater  like  hers  jest  for  a  selfish  purpose  ?  What  difference  does 
it  make,  and  what  account  am  I,  compared  to  her?  I  didn't 
love  for  my  sake,  Mr.  Gifford,  but  for  liers" 

"that  is  noble." 

"  Only  just  and  right,  I  call  it.  I  did  tell  Mary  Anne  I  loved 
her,  and  I  pleaded  rather  hard — too  hard,  it  seemed  to  me  after 
wards.  But  it  was  a  sharp  trial  at  the  time,  and  allers  after  I 
forgot  my  own  pain  in  bein'  sorry  for  her." 

"  Sorry  for  her  ?" 

"  Because  she  had  to  suffer  in  the  same  way,  and  bein'  a 
higher  and  purer  nater  than  mine,  I  knew  she  must  suffer 
more." 

"  But  how  mean  you  in  the  same  way?" 

"  I  mean  that  Mary  Anne,  too,  loved  as  I  did  ;  and  *as  I  did, 
hopelessly." 

"No!"  half  shouted  Hugh,  "she  is  heart- free,  heart- 
whole!" 

"Free  she  may  be,  but  heart-whole,  no  ;  no  more  than  I  be, 
Mr.  Gifford." 

"  You  must  be  in  error,  Luke,"  said  Hugh,  more  calmly. 
"  Miss  Rooke  had  no  affair  of  that  sort — only  had  one  in  her  life, 
and  that  irrevocably  broken  off.  You  must  be  in  error." 

A  strange  light  came  into  Luke's  eyes.  Such  a  strange  ex 
pression — like  what  is  sometimes  seen  in  the  face  of  one  who 
has  been  weeping,  but  over  whose  mind  some  humorous  con 
ceit  has  floated  unbidden,  and  sheds  its  reflection  through  the 
face. 

"No,"  he  said,  firmly,  "I'm  not  in  error.  I'm  ignorant 
enough,  Lord  knows,  Mr.  Gifford,  and  I  might  naterally  make 
mistakes  'bout  a  great  many  things,  but  not  'bout  t/iat.  No, 
Mary  Anne  Rooke  loves,  as  I  said,  and  loves  hopelessly ;  and 
that's  what  made  me  feel  so  sorry  for  her,  till,  as  I  said,  the  pity 
kind  of  overpowered  and  smothered  the  love." 

"But  even  if  it  were  true — which  I  must  still  doubt — would 
you  then  regret  this  hopeless  love  ?  Surely,  with  your  feelings, 
you  would  not  wish  her  to  marry  another?" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  251 

"  That's  jest  where  you're  wrong,  Mr.  Gifford.  Heaven  is  my 
witness,  how  glad  I'd  be  if  it  were  an  honorable  love  and  made 
her  happy.  But  it  isn't,  can't  be,  is  quite  out  of  the  question ; 
so  of  course  I  don't  wish  it." 

"  You  speak  in  enigmas,  Luke, "  said  Hugh,  a  little  impa 
tiently  ;  "I  wish  you  could  think  it  right  to  speak  plainly." 

Luke  looked  at  the  other  long  and  earnestly.  "  It's  strange," 
he  murmured,  half  to  himself,  "very  strange — and  yet  it's  jest 
like  her."  Then  aloud,  "  You've  no  idea,  Mr.  Gifford,  what  I 
mean  ?" 

"  None  whatever — except  that  you  must  have  deceived  your 
self  in  some  odd  way." 

Luke  shook  his  head  again ;  and  there  remained  in  his  face 
the  only  self-confident  expression  which  perhaps  had  ever  shown, 
itself  there. 

"  As  you  said,  Mr.  Gifford,"  he  replied,  slowly,  "  now  that 
she's  gone — gone,  and  we,  none  of  us,  are  ever  to  see  her  again 
— p'raps  it  don't  make  so  much  difference,  and  then  it's  bein'  so 
impossible  and  all ;  and  you — you've  no  ideal" 

"None  whatever — not  the  least — I  repeat." 

"  Then,  Mary  Anne  was  very  much  in  love —  and  hopelessly, 
mind — with  some  one  here  on  the  Bar;  had  been  before  she  or 
that  some  one  came  on  the  Bar ;  will  be,  long  after  she  and  that 
some  one  are  gone  from  the  Bar." 

;-  And  that  some  one?" 

"  And  that  some  one  is  you,  yourself,  Mr.  Gifford !" 

"  Good  heavens!" 

' '  I  knew  ye  didn't  think  it,  and  I  was  glad,  for  both  your 
sakes,  ye  didn't.  But  it  was  you,  just  the  same,  for  all  that." 

The  color  gave  a"  deeper  bronze  to  Gifford's  cheek,  and  his 
breath  came  a'nd  went  swiftly  as  he  muttered  : 

"You  are  wrong — wrong !  Your  own  love  has  deceived, 
blinded  you." 

"  No — never  !  Never,  except  for  three  minutes,  once  when  I 
talked  with  her  in  the  path  there  by  the  river.  Never  before, 
never  since." 

"  And  how  do  you  know  this  ?" 

"And  how  do  I  know!"  and  Luke  almost  laughed  aloud — 
"  how  do  I  know  that  the  sun  shines  or  the  moon,  or  that  the 
water  tumbles  over  the  caterack,  or  that  she  is  beautiful,  or 
that  I  am  not  good  enough  to  love  her  ?  Because  I  KNOW  it — 
Because,  if  there  were  ten  thousand  people  on  the  Bar,  and  each 
swore  it  wasn't  so,  I'd  still  know  that  it  was." 

"  Surely,  she " 


252  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"  Never  spoke  of  or  hinted  such  a  thing  ?  No.  I  spoke  to  her, 
thinkin',  which  I  was  hasty  in  perhaps,  that  others  might  see 
and  talk  of  your  bein'  a  good  deal  together ;  but,  tho'  she  thank 
ed  me,  she  didn't  admit  I  was  right  in  my  guess." 

"You  spoke  to  her  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  it  was  kindly  meant,  if  it  does  look  selfish.  It  was  be 
cause  I  knew  that  for  you  two  ever  to  be  anything  to  each  other 
w.as  impossible,  and  so " 

"Impossible!     And  why?" 

"Why'?  Mr.  Gifford,  wasn't  you,  and  ain't  you  engaged  to 
another  woman '?  And  was  it  right  for  Mary  Anne's  honor  any 
more  than  it  was  for  your'n,  that  sech  things  should  be  said,  or 
even  thought  ?  I  didn't  think  so,  and  I  spoke." 

"  Right — quite  right.  I  forgot,  Luke  ;  you  were  quite  right, 
I  don't  doubt.  People  often  forget,  or  never  think,"  he  went 
on  musingly,  "  what  construction  others  may  put  upon  their 
conduct." 

"  That  was  jest  it." 

"And  as  Miss  Rooke  and  I  had  many  subjects  of  common  in 
terest  to  both,  we,  perhaps,  were  not  considerate  enough  about 
people  making  allowances.  But,  about  this  other  surmise  of 
yours,  Luke — about  Miss  Rooke's  feelings  towards  myself — you 
have  misinterpreted  this  common  interest  and  believed  some 
thing  deeper,  and " 

' '  Let  us  not  argue  that,  Mr.  Gifford,  please  That's  a  thing  I 
know ;  so  I  can't  weigh  chances  or  doubts  touchin'  it.  Mary 
Anne  loves  you — loves  you  as-^-as — I  loved  her." 

The  poor  fellow  stopped,  and  Hugh  respected  his  silence.  In 
deed  he  had  so  much  cause  to  wish  for  commune  with  himself  as 
to  be  glad  of  the  time  for  reflection.  Here  was  a  revelation, 
coming  from  this  simple,  single-minded  source  too,  whose  truth 
he  thought  himself  a  very  mole  not  to  have  before  suspected, — 
a  revelation,  which  seemed  to  be  at  one  moment  the  most  blissful 
ever  heard  from  mortal  lips,  at  the  next  to  be  almost  utterly  in 
different.  That  he  loved  Marian  as  he  never  yet  had  loved 
woman,  Hugh  was  now  too  well  aware  ;  but  was  his  love  made 
a  whit  more  prosperous  by  a  knowledge  that  it  had  been  return 
ed  1  If  Marian  were  able  to  act  as  she  had  acted,  to  tear  herself 
away  from  a  presence  which  was  so  dear  to  her,  simply  from  a 
conviction  of  duty,  was  she  likely  to  be  any  less  resolute  merely 
because  Hugh  knew  more  of  the  state  of  her  heart  than  was 
proper  for  her  to  divulge  1  Manifestly  not.  So  far  as  his  own 
feelings  were  concerned,  Hugh  found  it  difficult,  in  reviewing 
his  conduct,  to  escape  the  persuasion  that  Marian  must  be  aware 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTCNE.  253 

of  them.  If  so,  it  was  with  a  double  knowledge  that  she  had 
acted  as  she  had.  It  was  with  a  determination  that  the  honor 
of  both  should  receive  no  blemish,  that  she  had  taken  and 
acted  upon  her  resolution.  She  had  done  to  Virginia  Chester  as 
she  wouM  have  been  done  by,  and  if  Hugh  were  by  her  side  at 
this  moment,  armed  with  all  the  passionate  eloquence  that  his 
new  discovery  would  endow  him  withal,  he  believed  her  strong 
enough  to  persevere  in  the  right  path,  and  to  resist  him  still. 
>  There  was  no  particular  gain,  then,  in  this  revelation ;  it  only 
increased  the  measure  of  Hugh's  regret  and  despondency.  He 
wandered  over  the  dear  old  haunts  again  and  again,  and  all  he 
could  arrive  at  was  the  thought  ever  recurring,  sometimes  in  one 
shape,  sometimes  another,  but,  substantially,  the  same  thought 
still,  that  if  he  were  only  rich,  somehow  all  difficulties  could  be 
smoothed,  and  every  one  made  happy  without  any  one  being 
wronged. 

In  his  wanderings  he  was  almost  always  attended  by  his  old 
companions,  Ichabod  and  Lion.  Hugh  liked  their  company 
chiefly,  perhaps,  because  they  seldom  spoke,  but  there  was  a 
strong  tie  between  them  for  a  better  reason.  It  is  said  that  peo 
ple — that  is  to  say,  people  of  mean,  low  natures — never  forgive 
those  who  have  done  them  favors.  I  am  very  sure  that  this  is 
not  the  case  with  dogs  ;  those,  at  least,  of  the  nobler  breeds  may 
be  better  described  as  never  forgetting  rather  than  never  forgiv 
ing  their  benefactors.  Such,  at  any  rate,  was  the  case  with  Lion: 
he  recognized  Ike  as  his  playfellow  and  his  master,  to  the  extent 
that  they  were  never  separated ;  but  he  regarded  Hugh,  so  far 
as  a  dog  could  cherish  such  a  sentiment,  with  a  species  of  grate 
ful  reverence,  of  steadfast,  immovable  attachment,  which,  by  a 
natural  sympathy,  he  also  shared  with  Ike  himself.  The  dark 
ened  mind  of  the  imbecile,  darkened  in  spite  of  its  occasional 
flashes  of  keen  perception  or  shrewd  cunning,  was  yet  capable 
of  the  most  intense  feeling  of  gratitude.  The  strongest  desire 
that  he  had  ever  felt  was  that  of  doing  Gifford  some  signal  service 
in  return  for  the  inestimable  one  of  saving  his  favorite's  life,  and 
this  desire  was  hardly  ever  absent  from  his  thoughts.  Many  a 
strange  colloquy  had  he  had  with  Lion  on  this  important  subject 
when  no  one  else  was  by ;  many  a  time  had  he  impressed  upon  Ms 
canine  understanding  the  necessity  which  existed  for  some  re 
compense  being  devised  in  requital  for  the  great  boon  which  had 
been  conferred  upon  him.  At  such  times  the  creature  would 
listen  with  a  grave  and  attentive  air,  and  appear  altogether  to 
appreciate  and  concur  in  the  arguments  presented ;  and,  whether 
he  understood  them  or  not,  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  would  have 


254  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

shrunk  from  no  sacrifice  or  personal  risk  which,  upon  occasion, 
their  acceptance  might  entail. 

While  all  the  others  on  the  Bar  saw  Hugh's  depression,  and 
accounted  for  it  in  various  ways,  Ike  ,did  the  same  with  his  own 
lights,  and  after  his  own  fashion.  He  knew  that  Marian,  and  Gif- 
ford  had  been  a  great  deal  together,  for  he  had  often  enough 
been  of  the  party ;  but  he  did  not  connect  her  departure  with  the 
existing  gloom  for  two  reasons:  one  was  that,  although  he  would 
have  seen  something  to  laugh  at  and  have  a  joke  about  in  tfye 
flirtations  of  Kitty  Armstrong  and  Dick  Railes,  such  an  idea 
never  for  an  instant  occurred  to  him  in  connection  with  Marian 
and  Hugh.  He  regarded  the  former  indeed  as  a  superior, 
almost  as  an  angelic  being,  and  had  an  instinctive  perception  of 
the  impropriety  of  coupling  her  name  with  the  jests  and  gibes 
about  love  which  seemed  natural  enough  with  those  of  creatures 
of  coarser  clay.  These  are  of  the  perceptions  which,  in  our  fel 
low  beings  whom  we  call  weak-minded,  are  often  the  strongest 
and  most  clearly  defined. 

But  Ike  believed  that  he  knew  the  real  secret  at  the  bottom  of 
Hugh's  disquietude;  and  he  addressed  himself  one  day  to  obtain 
a  satisfactory  acknowledgment  of  the  accuracy  of  his  opinion. 
They  had  been,  as  usual,  hard  at  work  in  the  canon,  and  the  two 
had  withdrawn,  as  was  often  their  wont,  to  eat  their  frugal  mid 
day  meal  under  a  waterproof  tent  hard  by.  The  day  had  been 
very  wet,  the  rain  pouring  almost  constantly  in  sullen,  leaden 
showers,  and  scarcely  a  gleam  of  sunshine  or  a  patch  of  blue  sky, 
which  now  and  again  would  cheer  their  weary  toil  in  the 
long  days  of  the  rainy  season,  had  on  this  morning  been  seen. 
There  were  two  or  three  tents  for  shelter  when  the  torrents  were 
too  heavy  and  unceasing  for  work ;  but  the  miners  had  long  boots 
coming  to  the  thigh,  and  oilskin  coats,  and  generally  speaking 
they  toiled  steadily  on,  rain  or  shine. 

'"Pears  to  me,"  said  Ike,  addressing  Lion,  who  lay  with  his 
great  curly  black  hide  streaming  with  moisture  outside  the  tent, 
— "  'pears  to  me  everybody's  gittin'  down-hearted  and  lonesome 
'cept  you  and  me.  P'raps,"  he  continued,  cutting  off  a  piece  of 
dried  beef  and  presenting  to  the  animal,  who  took  it  with  great 
gentleness  and  deliberation,  "p'raps  it's  bekase  you  and  me  air 
the  only  ones  who  have  everythink  we  want.  We  ain't  down 
hearted,  for  we  don't  hanker  for  what  we  can't  git.  We  ain't 
lonesum,  for  we  allers  have  enough  company." 

"Yes,"  said  Hugh,  half  consciously  acquiescing,  "you  two 
are  happy  enough,  no  doubt.  The  happiest  on  the  Bar  are  those 
whom  the  rest  are  always  pitying." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  255 

"  I  don't  want  no  pity,"  said  Ike,  scornfully  ;  "pity  'em  back, 
and  see  how  they  like  it.  Allers  a  grtimblin'  and  cussin',  come 
low  water  or  high.  Heavy  yield,  no  thanks  ;  little  yield,  all 
growl.  Ike's  a  poor  shoat,  that's  so.  He's  a  dirned  fool, 
Dick  says.  Praps  that's  so.  But  he's  the  only  one  o'  the  crowd 
who  don't  rile  over  what  he  hain't  got,  and  yet  could  git  what 
all  the  rest  hanker  arter." 

"You  mustn't  mind  Dick,"  said  Hugh,  gently ;  "he  says 
much  he  don't  mean,  you  know,  Ike.  He's  a  good  fellow  at 
bottom." 

"Ay,  maybe  there's  wuss  than  Dick;  and  then  Kitty  likes 
him.  so  he  wouldn't  be  drefful  bad." 

••  No  ;  surely  that's  a  mark  in  his  favor.  But  you  see,  Ike,  it's 
natural  when  people  work  hard  that  they  should  look  for  some 
reward." 

"  They  don't  git  more  for  grumblin'  over  it." 

"  No,  perhaps  not.  But  it's  some  relief,  you  know,  to  com 
plain." 

"  Injuns  don't  think  so ;  and  they  know  a  heap  better' n  most 
of  us.  Better'n  most  anyone,  'ceptin'  Lion.  Injuns  know  a 
sight  o'  things  they  don't  tell  on,  that's  more,"  added  Ike,  reflec 
tively. 

"  You've  seen  many  of  'em — I   mean  since  we've  been  here?" 

"  Only  two  or  three.  There's  lots,  they  say,  towards  the 
rising  sun.  And  none  of  our  folks  dares  to  go  to  the 
north-east  for  fear  o'  their  precious  scalps.  They  don't  fight 
open,  not  even  like  them  'ere  devils  o'  Pawnees ;  but  lie  in  the 
chaparral  and  pick  folks  off  when  they  go  by.  They're  like 
Ike  for  one  thing." 

"  And  what's  that,  pray  ?" 

"Not  carin'  a  darn  for  the  gold." 

"  Oh,  they  don't  value  it,  eh  ?" 

"Not  yet.  Uncle  Seth  says  they  will,  plaguey  quick,  when 
they  know  how  much  fire-water,  and  blankets,  and  powder  and 
shot,  it'll  fetch.  But  they'll  stop  bein'  Injuns  soon  when  they 
get  to  know  that  much." 

"  Poor  people,  they  don't  last  long  after  contact  with  the  white 
man." 

"  But  they  know  what  Ike  knows — they  know  what  all  peo 
ple  know — where  to  find  things  they  don't  want.  Ike  don't 
care  for  gold;  and  he  kin  tell  where's  there's  acres  and  moun 
tains  of  it.  That's  allers  the  way;  nobody  kin  find  it  as  wants 
it,  and  everyone  kin  hev  it  who  don't." 

The  boast  had  been  repeated  too  often  for  Hugh  to  regard  it 


256  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

as  any  more  than  one  of  Ike's  harmless  and  frequent  fantasies, 
and  he  well  knew  that  if  questioned  as  to  why  he  did  not  use  his 
exceptional  knowledge,  the  old  reply,  that  it  would  be  ''bad"  for 
the  others  to  share  in  its  benefit,  would  be  his  only  one  ;  so  Hugh 
remained  silent. 

"Now  you,  Mr.  Gifford,"  said  Ike,  turning  sharply  upon  him, 
and  narrowly  scanning  his  face — "  you  can't  find  any  gold ; 
more'n  the  poor  scratching  you  git  here  now,  I  mean  ?" 

"  No,  Ike,  I  suppose  I  can't." 

"Then  you  kear  for  it,  that's  all." 

"Well,"  confessed  Hugh,  with  a  sigh,  "  I  fear  I  do,  Ike." 

"  Do  ye  now,  really,  very  much  f  put  Ike,  with  curiosity. 

"  Yes — really — very  much." 

"Ever  so  much?"  persisted  Ike,  coming  close,  and  peering 
into  the -other's  face,  as  if  trying  to  elicit  some  mysterious, 
occult  secret. 

"Yes,  ever  so  much." 

"  I  wish  ye'd  tell  me  why." 

1 '  Why  ?  Why  ?  "  repeated  Hugh,  forgetting,  in  the  thoughts 
which  the  inquiry  suggested,  the  mental  deficiency  of  the  ques 
tioner.  "  How  can  you  ask  why  ?  Because  it  would  make  me 
a  different  man !  Because  it  would  change  into  refined  and  ele 
vated  surroundings  the  coarse  and  sordid  ones  which  must  now, 
perforce,  content  me  !  Because  it  would  enable  me  to  achieve 
something,  and  show  the  world  of  what  stuff  I  am  made !  Be 
cause  it  would  enable  me  to  avenge  myself  on  the  narrow- 
minded  wretches  who  have  scorned  and  trampled  on  me  because 
I  was  poor !  Because  it  would  enable  me  to  apply  the  touchstone, 
that  I  might  thus  distinguish  between  false  love  and  true !  And 
because,  if  the  test  showed  what  I  think  it  would,  it  would 
enable  me — oh,  happiness  I  to — to •" 

"To  what?"  urged  Ike,  eagerly. 

"  To  do  and  be  all  that  I  most  wish  for  on  earth,"  said  Hugh, 
recollecting  himself  in  time  to  employ  a  generality  instead  of 
the  particular  declaration  which  had  hovered  on  his  lips. 

"It's  curus,"  mused  Ike,  "  that  what  some  folks  want  so  much, 
other  folks  don't  kear  shucks  for." 

"Yes,"  answered  Hugh,  abstractedly,  and  thinking  how  he 
had  been  led  unawares  into  a  mere  wild  and  purposeless  decla 
ration  of  his  wishes. 

"P'raps,  arter  all,  we  may  strike  a  lead  agin,  as  rich  as  the 
first  go  off  wos  on  the  canon." 

"Perhaps." 

"  There's  nuthin'  for't  but  to  keep  on  tryin'." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  257 

'"Nothing." 

"  Then  agin,"  remarked  Ike,  digressing  into  a  new  train  of 
reflection,  "  you  know  a  heap  more'n  most  any  on  'em  on  the 
Bar.  I  don't  know  nuthin'  and  don't  make  nuthin',  being  short 
o'  school  learnin',  let  alone  other  things  ;  but  folks  that  know  so 
much  ought  to  git  on  faster'n  them  that  don't  know  anythink." 

Hugh  colored.  "Why,  you  see,  Ike,"  he  replied,  again  ex 
plaining,  "I  have  had  some  education,  it's  true,  but  I've  never 
had  anything  of  a  start  in  life  to  make  that  education  of  any 
avail.  I  was  bred  to  a  profession,  but  a  man  should  be  able  to 
live  four  or  five  years  without  its  aid,  who  is  to  depend  on  its 
practice  for  the  future.  I  had  no  such  help.  My  parents  could 
give  me  education,  but  they  could  give  me  nothing  more.  So 
that  in  some  sense  I  was  rather  the  worse  than  the  better  for  it, 
seeing  it  pointed  out  pleasures,  opened  the  way  to  habits,  gen 
erated  hopes,  which  I  had  no  means  of  carrying  out  or  ful 
filling." 

"Then,"  said  Ike,  calmly,  "  you're  wuss  off  with  the  eddica- 
tion  than  ye  would  have  bin  without  it.  So  I  allers  thought." 

"  Perhaps  not  altogether  so.  But  it  doesn't  make  a  man  hap 
pier  who  is  absolutely  hopeless  of  rising  in  life." 

"  You  want  to  rise  in  life,"  repeated  Ike,  in  an  argumentative 
sort  of  tone,  "  but  yit  you  can't  earn  no  more  with  your  hands 
than  Dick  Railes!" 

"No,"  said  Hugh,  sadly,  "perhaps  not  so  much." 

"And  you  can't  rise  in  life  without  gold'?" 

"No,"  said  Hugh,  decisively  ;  "  certainly  not." 

The  sun  here  flickered  forth  a  little  through  the  drenching 
showers,  and  the  colloquists  joined  their  fellow  laborers  at  their 
tedious  labor  in  the  now  niggardly  canon.  Hugh  thought  he 
had  been  holding  what  appeared  to  be  a  curiously-connected 
conversation,  seeing  that  poor  Ike  had  been  his  companion  ;  but, 
beyond  a  passing  wonder,  the  matter  soon  slipped  from  his 
memory.  It  was  far  otherwise  with  Ike  himself.  He,  had  in 
his  own  way  obtained  the  particular  knowledge  he  had  set  him 
self  to  find  out ;  and  the  discovery,  so  far  as  its  main  essential 
was  concerned,  had  sunk  deeply  into  his  heart. 


258  MARIAN  ROOKE:   OK, 


CHAPTER  IX. 

"  THERE  ain't  much  show,"  said  Uncle  Seth,  as  h6  sat  smoking 
his  pipe  in  the  chimney-corner,  one  raw  January  evening,  "for 
the  old  homestead  at  Saybrook  this  year.  We  kin  lay  by  some- 
think  in  bank,  and  hev  a  wood  instead  of  a  cotting  roof,  may 
be ;  but  gold  is  too  scass  for  to  think  of  gittin'  rich  by  railroad 
this  ?ere  season." 

"  All  along  o'  that  'ere  pesky  Pangburn,"  snapped  Mrs.  Arm 
strong,  her  eyes  quivering  over  her  spectacles,  "  which  was  the 
palaveringest  mortal  I  ever  see.  I  ask  ye  now,  who  could  tell 
he  didn't  care  anything  about  chiny,  or  never  took  an  interest  in 
patchwork,  by  what  he  said — no,  not  from  fust  to  last  f 

"  He  is  a  fust-rate  business  man,"  chuckled  Dick  Railes,  who 
had  always  felt  a  lurking  dread  that  Pangburn 's  merits  as  a  con 
noisseur  in  these  articles  of  vertu  might  seduce  the  good  dame 
into  an  attempt  to  supersede  his  own  pretensions  with  pretty 
Kitty — "  a  fust-rate  business  man  is  Pangburn ;  and  knows 
drenul  well  which  way  to  make  folks  look  when  he's  arter  the 
sugar." 

"  Anyhow,"  growled  the  Doctor,  "  he  just  kept  us  from  making 
improvements  which  might  have  made  us  all  rich  by  this  time. 
However,  it's  worth  some  sacrifice  to  have  had  one  really  good 
chance  to  study  that  sort  of  animal." 

"I  reckon  studyin'  of  'em  don't  make  'em  hook  less,"  ob 
served  Mrs.  Armstrong,  sagely  ;  "  and,  opinion  bein'  asked,  I'd 
elect  their  bein'  studied  where  folks  had  stronger  bolts,  or  more 
to  lose." 

"  After  all,  ma,"  chirruped  Kitty,  "  we're  much  better  off 
than  some  poor  people  ;  and  surely  it  might  have  been  much 
worse." 

"  Allowin',"  affirmed  her  mother,  "  f'r  instance,  that  we'd  set 
tled  among  the  Mandans,  where  the  red  varmints  has  that  taste 
for  chiny  and  patchwork  that  they  wear  all  they  kin  git  on  their 
miserable  painted  bodies.  It  might  a  ben  wuss  to  be  skinned  by 
a  Mandan  instead  of  a  Pangburn  ;  but  for  ch'ice,  give  me 
nuther." 

"Up,  away  no'th  east'ards,"  said  Uncle  Seth,  puffing  away 
patiently,  "  there's  bin  awful  work  among  the  red-skins.  When 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  259 

there  warn't  many  whites,  they  was  peaceable  enough ;  but  now 
the  miners  air  increasin'  and  multiplyin',  and  kind  o'  pushiii'  into 
their  huntin' -grounds,  they're  gittin'  awful  savage  There  was 
seven  miners  killed  on  the  Coltsfoot  range  away  to  the  no'th  o' 
Gunpowder  Crik  a  week  ago  Sunday." 

"That's  whar  Pangburn  ought  to  a  gone,"  said  Mr.  Railes. 
"  If  you  could  on'y  a  made  a  pint  thereaway,  Doctor,  with  the 
th'odolite,  and  persuaded  the  critter  thar  was  rich  diggins  thar, 
he'd  a  come  to  a  righteous  end  by  this." 

"I  wouldn't  wish  no  white  man  sech  a  fate,  Dick,"  said  Uncle 
Seth.  charitably  ;  "we've  ben  too  near  it  ourselves  to  wish  e'er 
a  feller  bein'  to  share  in't.  As  for  the  dust,  he  won't  be  no 
better  nor  we  no  wuss  for  it,  in  the  long  run." 

"  When  I  kin  dig  taters  out  of  a  hill."  remarked  Mrs.  Arm 
strong,  "  furthest  be  it  from  me  to  grudge  fryin'  'em  with  the  pork. 
But  the  hard  lines  was  rather  tucked  on  to  us  jest  about  then. 
You  kin  dig  gold,  and  you  can  dig  taters,  but  you  can't  dig  up 
gals  like  our  Mary  Anne  not  every  day."  This  was  said  with  a 
sorrowing  glance  towards  Luke  ;  for  the  mother's  instinct  taking 
alarm  at  his  long-continued,  patient  sorrow,  had  not  been  de 
ceived  at  last  in  divining  the  cause. 

"Ay,"  said  Seth  gravely  ;  "both  our  treasures  were  took 
from  us  to  onct ;  and  it  did  seem  rather  stiff  comin'  together  like. 
I  take  it,  if  we'd  had  a  ch'ice,  few  on  us  would  a  differed  as  to 
which  to  lose.  But  these  things  is  ordered  for  us,  and  we  don't 
order  'em  for  ourselves. " 

"  I  wish  an  order'd  come  for  an  ounce  to  the  pan,"  said  Dick 
Railes,  sotto  voce,  "  like  as  was  in  the  old  times.  Seems  to  me  if 
things  keeps  on,  we'll  hev  to  go  to  hoein'  corn  agin  for  a  livin', 
with  a  little  huntin'  and  fishin'  thrown  in." 

"  There's  gold  enough  in  the  country,"  continued  Seth,  "  only 
p'raps  we  ain't  so  fortunate  as  some  folks  who  change  then*  loca 
tion  oftener.  For  my  part  I  allers  allowed  I'd  rather  stick  to  one 
spot,  bein'  naterally  sot  agen  movin',  and  some  struck  in  years. 
AWve  staid  here  very  stiddy,  that's  a  fact  ;  and  when  we  fust 
come,  we  could  pick  and  choose.  Its  harder  doin'  that  now  ; 
for  to  the  suth'ard  and  west'ard  there's  the  settlers  comin'  in 
thicker  and  thicker  every  day ;  and  to  the  north'ard  and  east'ard 
there's  the  redskins  who  air  on  the  war-path,  and  no  mistake. 
So  now  I  don't  see  nuthin'  better  than  to  squat  where  we  air,  and 
worry  of  it  out." 

"  There's  as  much  gold  here  as  anywhere,"  said  the  Doctor, 
lighting  his  pipe  with  a  red-wood  shaving ;  "but  it's  harder  to 
get  at,  and  will  take  machinery  such  as  we  haven't  got.  Quick- 


200  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

silver  will  separate  gold  from  earth,  but  it  won't  extract  it  from 
quartz.  That  must  be  pulverized  before  it  will  relax  its  hold. 
We've  been  skimming  the  surface,  that's  all ;  and  we  shall  keep 
on  skimming  till  we  either  find  a  new  placer,  or  get  a  quartz 
mill." 

"  Couldn't  we  make  one  f  asked  Dick. 

"Make  one  !" 

;      "  Make  one  as  we  did  the  flume,"  explained  the  backwoods- 
\  man,  who  had  a  secret  conviction  that  strong  arms  and  broad 
axes  were  equal  to  the  manufacture  of  almost  any,  however  com 
plicated,  machinery. 

"  Do  you  know  what  such  a  thing  is  t  How  would  you  set 
about  it  ?" 

"  Why,"  said  Dick,  somewhat  abashed,  "  couldn't  ye  kind  o' 
work  in  the  th'odolite  ?" 

This  was  the  resource  for  any  mysterious  or  recondite  needs, 
when  the  strong  arms  and  broad  axes  required  auxiliary  aid.  It 
was  remarkable  that,  just  as  Dick  had  at  first  regarded  the  instru 
ment  as  a  mere  bauble,  a  child's  plaything,  he  now  firmly  be 
lieved  it  capable  of  conquering  the  most  unheard-of  difficulties. 
It  now  inspired  him  with  awe,  just  as  before  it  filled  him  with 
contempt.  It  had  been  a  useless  toy,  and  was  now  the  thunder 
bolt  of  Jove. 

"Why,  no,"  laughed  the  Doctor,  "I  fear  it  would  scarcely 
serve  us  there.  'Twill  measure  heights'and  distances,  and  survey 
land,  and  lay  off  angles,  and  tell  us  even  differences  of  levels,  but 
it  won't  answer  the  purpose  of  a  machine-shop,  nor  build  us  a 
steam-engine." 

"  I've  bin  thinkin',"  said  Seth,  u  that  we  might  kind  o'  pros 
pect  more.  None  o'  these  questions  of  title  are  likely  to  be  riz, 
leastways  for  some  years  to  come,  and  we  might  give  a  little  time 
when  the  rains  hold  up  to  prospectin'  a  piece,  jest  as  well  as  spend 
it  all  in  poor  work.  Anyway,  it'll  only  cost  the  time  to  try." 

There  had  been  a  great  deal  of  desultory  prospecting  before, 
and  it  had  generally  proved  very  unproductive.  But  Uncle  Seth 
had  an  idea  that,  by  proposing  such  experiments  now  and  then, 
he  forestalled  discontent,  and  kept  the  party  in  harmony  together. 
It  had  been  arranged  between  Dick  and  Kitty,  and,  after  some 
demur  and  talking  of  it  over,  with  the  old  folks,  that  they  were 
to  be  married  in  the  coming  spring,  provided  a  certain  sum 
should  then  have  been  accumulated  as  going  to  Dick's  share,  thus 
making  it  reasonably  prudent  for  him  to  assume  new  responsibili 
ties  .  According  to  Dick' s  version,  they  were  to  be  married  at  early 
summer,  "whether  or  no"  ;  but  although  inwardly  resolved  on 


THE  QUEST  FOB  FORTUNE.  261 

not  being  debarred  from  happiness  by  pecuniary  considerations, 
Dick  was  still  extremely  anxious  to  get  on,  and  he  chafed  under 
the  slow  progress  and  niggardly  yield  which  so  long  attended 
then*  efforts  at  the  Bar.  But  the  rainy  season  had  kept  more 
than  one  impatient  spirit  in  check  there.  Luke  Armstrong  pined 
for  a  more  active  and  adventurous  life,  and  we  have  seen  some 
thing  of  Gifford's  discontents  and  aspirations.  As  for  the 
Doctor,  in  addition  to  his  share  of  the  mining  interests,  and  at 
tending  to  such  few  trifling  ailments  as  any  of  the  company  had 
experienced,  he  was  absorbed  in  making  geological  andjbotanical 
collections  to  that  degree  that  he  had  no  time  either  to  be  un 
happy  or  discontented. 

There  were  a  great  many  vicissitudes  of  fortune  that  season. 
Stones  were  blown  to  the  ear  on  every  breeze  of  enormous  for 
tunes  swiftly  amassed,  of  incredible  lumps  of  gold  discovered,  of 
mountains  all  compact  with  the  glittering  metal,  of  ravines  more 
precious  than  the  fabled  valley  of  diamonds.  The  truth  was, 
that  when  any  brilliant  discovery  was  made,  it  was  profusely  ad 
vertised  and  trumpeted,  so  that  scarcely  any  one  in  California  re 
mained  ignorant  of  it ;  but  of  the  thousands  who  made  but  a  bare 
subsistence,  struggling  on  against  the  evils  ol  enormous  prices  for 
every  necessary,  often  almost  without  shelter,  clothing,  or  even 
food,  report  made  no  mention.  So  that  the  young  men  at  Arm 
strong's  Bar  very  naturally  contrasted  their  own  measure  not 
with  the  latter,  but  with  the  former,  standards  of  success ;  a  pro 
ceeding  common  to  all  men  in  all  generations,  and  it  may  be 
supposed,  always  to  remain  so.  But  in  spite  of  this,  there  were 
a  great  number  of  real,  substantial  fortunes  amassed,  and  no  lack 
of  authentic  details  to  cause  the  unlucky  ones  to  envy  and  ad 
mire. 

As  for  Hugh,  not  a  week  passed  but  he  was  revolving  some 
scheme  for  changing  his  situation.  But  there  were  not  a  few 
obstacles  to  such  a  step.  First,  there  was  Marian's  desire  that 
he  should  remain  with  the  Armstrongs  ;  it  was  very  sweet  and 
grateful  to  Hugh  to  think  he  was  obeying  that  desire.  Then 
he  could  not  bear,  somehow,  melancholy  as  were  then*  associa 
tions,  to  tear  himself  from  the  places  she  used  to  love,  the  spots 
which  she  had  hallowed  by  her  presence.  Added  to  this  was 
the  circumstance,  that  it  was  a  matter  of  no  little  inconvenience 
at  that  date  to  wander  forth  in  the  rainy  season  with  no  fixed 
abode  or  habitation.  I  remember  sleeping  on  top  of  a  pile  of 
trunks  once,  exposed  through  the  livelong  night  to  a  drenching 
rain,  at  a  place  called  the  ';  Summit,"  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 
The  "  Summit,"  besides  its  negative  charms  of  affording  no 


262  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

shelter — the  few  wretched  adobe  huts  it  contained  having  been 
absolutely  packed  with  travellers  before  my  arrival — struck  me 
as  the  most  hideously  desolate  hole  I  had  ever  yet  seen.  Now, 
I  dare  say  to  those  who,  being,  if  not  comfortably,  at  least  dryly, 
housed,  looked  forth  and  saw  me  on  my  eyrie,  the  place  ap 
peared  a  veiy  good  one  to  stop  in,  notwithstanding  they  were 
sleeping  so  close  to  one  another  on  the  floor  that  there  was  no 
room  for  any  living  thing,  except  the  fleas,  to  come  between 
them ;  and  Hugh  had  seen,  even  in  his  short  travels,  so  many 
poor  fellows  without  a  roof  over  their  heads,  that  even  the 
"cotting"  one  of  his  present  quarters  was  not  to  be  despised. 
At  all  events,  the  season  which  we  call  spring  had  almost  come, 
and  he  still  lingered  at  the  Bar. 

When  the  rains  began  to  cease,  a  marked  change  came  over 
the  poor  witling,  Ike.  It  has  been  said  before,  that  his  mental 
weakness  had  not  the  effect  to  impair  his  usefulness  in  a  general 
way,  or  to  disqualify  him  for  steadfast  labor.  On  the  contrary, 
he  was  always  at  work  with  the  earliest,  and  among  the  last  to 
pause.  But  latterly  he  seemed  to  take  a  different  view  of  his 
obligations.  By  degrees  he  began  to  avoid  exertion,  to  go  late 
to  the  canon,  to  abandon  the  particular  spot  where  he  was  post 
ed,  and  go  restlessly  to  others.  After  a  time  he  stayed  away 
from  work  altogether,  hanging  about  the  house,  however,  and 
chopping  wood  and  bringing  water,  as  had  been  his  wont  long 
ago  at  the  farm  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  When  this  had  gone 
on  for  a  while,  alternating  with  returns  to  his  more  regular  hab 
its,  Seth  took  occasion,  with  great  gentleness,  to  remonstrate 
with  him,  whereat  Ike  plumply  refused  for  some  days  to  do  any 
labor  at  all.  Being  unmolested  and  unnoticed  for  a  space,  he 
again  resumed  his  toil  with  the  others.  But  the  interruptions 
continued,  and  even  became  more  frequent.  Soon  after,  he  add 
ed  a  new  vagary  to  his  former  ones,  which  at  first  caused  some 
alarm  ;  he  absented  himself  for  a  whole  day,  and  did  not  return 
until  far  into  the  night,  being  let  in  with  his  four-legged  com 
panion,  at  twelve  o'clock,  greatly  to  the  relief  of  Mrs'.  Arm 
strong,  who  had  desired  the  whole  party  to  turn  out  and  scour 
the  country  for  him.  An  impression  now  arose  in  the  little  cir 
cle  that  poor  Ike  was  fast  losing  what  slender  wits  he  ever  had, 
and  that  he  was  in  danger  of  becoming  quite  useless  and  incapa 
ble.  On  this,  Seth  consulted  the  Doctor ;  but  the  latter  advised 
that  Ike  should  be  left  entirely  to  his  own  devices.  In  that  case 
the  increased  aberration  might  be  but  temporary ;  but  if  too 
much  notice  were  taken,  or  any  coercion  attempted,  it  might  not 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  263 

only  make  him  worse,  but  destroy  all  chance  of  his  ultimate  re 
covery. 

One  day  he  seemed  to  have  capped  the  climax  of  his  eccentri 
cities,  for  he  departed  before  daybreak,  taking  with  him  not  only 
his  inseparable  companion,  but  also  Dick  Railes'  mustang  mare, 
the  apple  of  his  eye,  from  her  shed  in  the  coital.  At  first  Dick 
stormed  and  swore,  for  this  was  his  one  possession  which  he 
could  not  bear  to  have  in  any  manner  interfered  with ;  but  he 
forgot  his  anger  before  the  next  morning,  when  neither  man, 
horse,  nor  dog  had  been  seen  or  heard  of.  Such  a  thing  had 
never  occurred  before,  and  it  threw  the  Bar  into  a  great  commo 
tion.  They  hunted  in  all  directions,  as  far  as  Yankee  Jim's  on 
one  side,  and  the  Coyote  Run  on  the  other ;  they  even  pene 
trated  a  dozen  miles  toward  the  dreaded  Indian  country — a  di 
rection  they  had  ever  been  most  sedulous  in  avoiding.  A  sec 
ond  night  wore  away  in  anxious  expectancy,  but  still  the  truant 
came  not.  Towards  morning  Seth  had  determined  to  raise  the 
country  in  every  quarter,  and,  if  possible,  to  have  poor  Ike 
found  ;  for  there  now  began  to  be  a  general  fear  that  he  had  met 
disaster,  and  that  his  body,  mangled  by  Indians  or  grizzlies,  was 
all  they  could  hope  to  find,  if,  indeed,  it  were  not  already  dis 
posed  of  by  the  latter. 

But  on  the  second  morning,  as  the  sun  was  just  peeping  over 
the  hills,  poor  Ike  returned,  having  been  absent  eight-and-forty 
hours  ;  and  to  Dick's  great  satisfaction  he  was  accompanied  not 
only  by  Lion,  but  by  the  mare.  The  trio  were  in  a  woeful 
plight,  indeed.  They  were  draggled  with  dirt,  and  wet  from 
head  to  foot.  Ike  was  rather  a  singular  figure  at  the  best  of 
times,  but  now  he  was  a  sight  to  behold.  If  he  had  been  plas 
tered  with  glue,  and  then  rolled  in  a  dust  heap,  he  could  scarcely 
have  been  more  matted  with  adhering  filth  ;  and  Lion  had  evi 
dently  experienced  precisely  the  same  vicissitudes  with  his 
master.  As  to  the  mare,  she  was  not  only  exceedingly  dirty, 
and  quite  knocked-up,  but  very  footsore,  notwithstanding  Ike 
had  led  her  for  many  miles  during  the  latter  part  of  his  erratic 
journey,  himself  scarcely  able  to  drag  one  foot  after  another. 
As  usual  Ike  declined  to  give  any  account  of  his  wanderiugs, 
and  his  friends  wisely  avoided  pestering  him  witli  questions.  He 
ate  and  drank  heartily,  and  then  fell  into  a  sound  sleep  which 
lasted  into  the  evening.  Then  he  awoke,  and  soon  after  had  a 
violent  chill,  followed  by  sharp  febrile  symptoms.  At  this  the 
Doctor  gave  him  quinine,  and  found  it  necessary  to  continue  his 
treatment  for  some  days.  In  the  mean  time  the  mare  was  put 


2G4  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

out  of  his  reach,  and  Lion,  who  seemed  heartily  glad  to  be  at 
home  again,  lay  snoring  under  his  cot. 

Ike  had  started  for  his  excursion  on  a  Tuesday ;  he  returned 
on  the  following  Thursday,  but  it  was  not  until  Sunday  that  he 
seemed  to  have  entirely  recovered  from  its  effects. 

It  was  one  of  those  supremely  lovely  mornings  that  are  so 
bright,  so  gladdening  to  the  heart,  because  they  come  after  a 
long,  long  series  of  days  when  the  sun  is  scarcely  ever  seen,  and 
when  the  rain  falls  almost  ceaselessly,  as  if  the  skies  were  never 
again  to  clear.  A  fine  haze  was  in  the  air,  which  made  the  land 
scapes  look  like  mezzotint,  and  the  sky  was  of  that  tender  Cali- 
fornian  blue,  than  which  that  of  Italy  may  be  more  beautiful, 
but  which  none  who  have  seen  the  former  will  allow.  The  long- 
continued  moisture  had  swelled  vegetation  into  its  most  luxu 
riant  growth,  and  a  sparkle  seemed  to  dance  on  every  spray  and 
tree-top  as  if  diamonds  had  been  sprinkled  there.  It  was  a  day 
to  be  remembered  for  its  own  loveliness,  but  it  was  tenfold  more 
precious  to  Gifford,  in  that  it  reminded  him  so  strongly  of  some 
others  like  it  when  his  walk  up  to  the  mountain  farm  had  not 
been  so  lonely  as  it  this  morning  was.  He  sat  there  on  Luke's 
memorial  bench,  and  bathed  in  the  soft,  delicious  air,  his  thoughts 
wandering  back  many  a  day  into  the  past,  far  into  the  time 
which  now  appeared  so  distant,  when  the  company  had  started 
from  St.  Louis  ;  to  the  time  before  they  had  faced  the  dangers 
of  the  plains,  and  had  turned  into  a  veritable  citadel  the  huge 
old  vehicle  they  christened  Castle  Armstrong.  And  Hugh  could 
not  but  remember  how  nervously  anxious  he  had  been  for  those 
days  to  pass  that  he  might  be  at  his  destined  work  of  winning 
a  fortune.  Alas  I  how  many  of  us  like  him  can  recall  such 
memories,  and  long  to  change  the  present  days  for  those — the 
unreturning  ones  1 

His  reverie  was  broken  by  a  light  step,  and  Ichabod  stood 
before  him.  He  wore  something  of  his  old  look  again ;  his 
dress,  if  fantastic,  was,  at  least,  clean,  and  as  usual  the  stalwart 
Lion  was  at  his  heels. 

"Why,  Ike,"  cried  Gifford,  "  you  look  quite  yourself  again — 
as  hearty  and  well  as  if  you  had  never  taken  that  wild-goose 
chase  of  yours  among  the  hills." 

"  What's  a  wild-goose  chase?'  asked  Ike,  suspiciously, 
"  What?     Why,  a  chase  after  a  will-o'-the-wisp — a  race  with 
out  a  goal — a  running  after  nothing,  to  be  sure." 

"And you  think  Ike  has  been  running  after  nothing?" 
"Not  purposely,"  said  Hugh,  gently.    "Ike  had  an  object  in 
view,  but  was  mistaken,  perhaps,  in  the  path  he  took  to  get  at  it." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE,  2G5 

"That's  the  way  with  all  the  wise  folks,"  returned  Ike,  sulk 
ily,  "  everybody's  mistaken  but  themselves.  The  beasts  know 
how  to  suckle  their  young,  and  the  birds  to  make  their  nests, 
and  even  the  sparrers  know  how  to  find  the  berries ;  but  they're 
all  fools  like  Ike !  Bime  by,  when  the  wise  folks  kin  find  what 
Ike  kin,  they'll  be  fools,  I  reckon,  and  Ike'll  be  a  wise  man." 

"Come,  come,"  said  Hugh,  in  his  soothing  way,  which  he 
seemed  to  keep  for  the  simpleton,  and  use  with  no  one  else, 
"  none  of  us' are  wise  always,  Ike ;  and  if  you  accomplished  the 
object  of  your  journey,  so  much  the  better." 

Ike  sat  down  on  the  bench  by  Gifford's  side,  and  began  with 
great  industry  to  rearrange  the  feathers  in  his  hat,  while  his  com 
panion  relapsed  into  reverie.  Presently,  however,  he  was  roused 
again  by  a  touch  on  the  shoulder,  and,  looking  at  Ike,  he  saw 
that  the  latter  was  pointing  mysteriously  to  the  north-east. 

"  There's  Injuns  there  away,"  he  affirmed  sententiously. 

Hugh  nodded.     "  We  always  knew  that — or  supposed*  it." 

"There's  Injuns  there  away,"  repeated  the  other,  "  but  they 
won't  hurt  Ike." 

"No?" 

"  No ;"  and  Ike  resumed  his  work  with  the  cherished  feathers. 
After  an  interval  ne  again  broke  .silence : 

"  They've  gone  and  hid  Dick's  mare!" 

"  Yes.  She  was  tired  and  footsore,  and  they  have  given  her 
a  holiday." 

"  They've  hid  Dick's  mare,"  reiterated  the  simpleton  ;  "  but 
there's  bosses  at  Yankee  Jim's  that  don't  want  no  holiday." 

"YesT 

"  Yes,"  and  once  more  the  process  of  redecoration  went  on. 

'  "  I'm  a  fool,"  suddenly  exclaimed  Ike,  interrupting  Ms  toils 

with  a  great  outburst  of  candor  ;   "  but  not  about  everythink. 

Some  folks  ain't  fools ;  but  then  again  they  ain't  cute  about  any- 

think." 

"  Ay,"  conceded  Hugh,  with  a  lazy  assent  to  the  proposition, 
"  there  are  many  who  think  themselves  wise  who  don't  know 
more  than  Ike." 

"  There's  many  who  think  themselves  wise  who  know  a  darned 
sight  less  than  Ike,"  corrected  he  decisively.  "  Now,"  he  con 
tinued,  after  a  few  moments  of  deep  reflection,  "you're"  one 
on  'em." 

"  I  ?"  said  Hugh,  smiling. 

"I  want  you  to  promise  me  something,"  said  Ike,  mistily 
changing  the  thread  of  his  discourse,  "afore  I  go  any  further." 

"What  is  it,  Ike  ?" 
12 


2G6  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"A  promise  to  be  kept  as  sacred  as  one  to  your  sweetheart." 

Gifford  turned  crimson  at  the  allusion  ;  but  Ike  was  too  ab 
sorbed  in  his  own  effort  at  concentration  and  continuity  to  notice 
him. 

"  You'll  make  a  sacred  promise,  with  Lion  as  a  witness,"  he 
repeated. 

"If  you  wish  it,"  answered  Hugh,  " and  it's  nothing  wrong, 
I  will." 

"Wrong,  wrong!"  echoed  Ike,  impatiently ;  "it's  nobody's 
business  but  mine  and  your'n.  I  don't  want  ye  to  kill  no  one, 
nor  set  the  old  ranch  a-fire,  nor  yit  hook  the  gold  dust  like  old 
Pangburn.  I  ain't  travellin'  on  anythink  but  what's  right,  I 
guess." 

"  Well,  well,  Ike,  I  promise." 

"  Seein'  it's  for  your  own  good — as  Lion  knows  as  well  as  me 
— ye  might  as  well.  It's  only  to  promise  what  I  tell  ye  no  one 
else  shall  ever  know,  'cept  I  myself  agree  to  their  knowin'  of  it." 

"  That's  reasonable  enough.     I  promise,  faithfully." 

"That's  you.  I  like  to  hear  ye  say  'faithfully,'  for  talkin' 
honest,  Mr.  Gifford,  I  don't  feel  quite  sure  how  long  my  head  '11 
last,  and  it  sounds  as  though  you'd  carry  out  my  iidea  if  I  give 
out." 

Hugh  looked  at  him  with  surprise.  His  words  were  perfectly 
coherent  now  ;  coherent  as  they  had  been  on  one  other  occasion 
when  he  had  made  a  great  effort  to  explain  and  to  understand. 
Hugh  had  not  sufficiently  studied  the  pathology  of  such  cases  to 
be  aware  how  it  often  happens  that  the  afflicted  can  compass 
something  very  like  sanity  by  a  sovereign  effort  of  the  will;  and 
although  reaction  be  certain  to  follow  such  an  instance,  that, 
during  the  effort,  the  reasoning  faculty  is  almost  in  a  normal  or 
healthy  condition. 

"  I'll  do  whatever  you  wish,  Ike,"  said  Gifford,  "  at  least  so  far 
as  I  can,  believe  me." 

"Well,  then,"  continued  the  simpleton,  gravely,  "I  wish  ye 
to  git  up  to-night  arter  the  rest  is  asleep,  and  walk  with  me  as 
far  as  to  Yankee  Jim's ;  there  we'll  git  hosses,  and  at  daybreak 
we  kin  push  on  our  way  in  the  saddle." 

Gifford  hesitated.  There  was  something  so  like  folly  in  this 
apparently  aimless  expedition  that  it  seemed  ridiculous  to  embark 
in  it.  Qn  the  other  hand,  he  had  promised  acquiescence,  and 
Ike's  manner  was  so  different  from  usual  that  he  felt  it  would  be 
extremely  awkward  to  employ  one  of  the  commonplace  eva 
sions  generally  adopted  with  such  people.  He  was  greatly 
puzzled. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  267 

"You're  a  tliinkin',"  observed  Ike,  steadily,  "that  this  era 
fool's  tryin'  to  git  you  on  a  chase  arter  the  wild  goose  he's  be'n 
traveUin'  arter'hisself.  Don't  think  that,  Mr.  Giffbrd.  Don't 
think  it  this  time.  I  hold  ye  to  your  word,  mind ;  and  I  agree 
and  stipperlate  ye  won't  be  sorry  ye  kept  it." 

"Be  it  so,"  exclaimed  Hugh,  after  a  little  more  reflection. 
"  It  shall  be  exactly  as  you  wish,  Ike;  I'm  sure  you  wouldn't 
give  me  unnecessary  anxiety  or  trouble.  I  will  do  as  you  de 
sire.  And  now  will  you  tell  me,  after  that,  Ike,  what  is  tho 
aim — the  object  of  this  queer  journey  of  yours1?" 

Ike  shook  his  head.  "  I'd  rather  ye  trusted  me  clear  through. 
P'raps,"  he  added,  ingenuously,  "  if  I  told  ye  the  object  ye 
wouldn't  go,  arter  all." 

"That's  not  very  encouraging,"  returned  Gifford,  laughing. 
( '  However,  my  word  is  passed,  and  I  won't  go  behind  it.  At 
twelve  o'clock,  then,  Ike?" 

"  At  twelve."  said  Ike,  "  or  as  nigh  it  as  the  rest  may  happen 
to  be  all  sound.  It  wouldn't  do  for  'em  to  know  I  was  stirrin' 
again,  for  they'd  try  and  stop  me,  maybe,  'specially  the  Doctor." 

"With  this  curious  illustration  of  the  gleams  of  sagacity  that 
sometimes  shot  furtively  athwart  the  dark  texture  of  his  mind, 
Ike  whistled  to  Lion,  and  stalked  away  into  the  depths  of  the 
forest. 

Much  as  he  doubted  his  own  wisdom  in  giving  the  promise, 
Hugh  never  dreamed,  nowthat  it  was  given,  of  revoking  or  quali 
fying  it ;  but  he  passed  the  day  with  some  uneasiness  as  he  reflect 
ed  upon  the  many  possible  dangers  and  troubles  his  compliance 
might  bring,  not  upon  himself  alone,  but  upon  Ms  irresponsible 
companion.  Should  anything  befall,  who  would  hold  him  justi 
fiable  in  assenting  to  the  plans  of  one  so  notoriously  imbecile,  if 
not  absolutely  idiotic '?  Such  was  the  thought  that  gave  him 
most  concern.  On  the  other  hand,  he  found  a  feeling  within  his 
breast  which  had  almost  the  force  of  conviction,  and  which  con 
tinually  urged  a  belief  that,  as  Ike  had  declared,  he  would  not  be 
sorry  for  keeping  his  word. 

The  day  wore  on,  as  many  another  quiet  Sunday  had  worn  on 
before  ;  but  Hugh's  pleasure  in  its  beauty,  its  softness,  its  cluster 
ing  associations,  was  marred,  or  merged  into  a  longing  curiosity 
that  the  night  might  come  and  bring  at  least  a  beginning  to  the 
solution  of  Ike's  mystery.  It  came  at  last  with  a  deep,  solemn 
starlight ;  but,  as  chance  would  have  it,  the  family  were  wakeful 
that  night,  and  it  was  quite  twelve  o'clock  before,  as  Hugh 
judged,-  all  could  safely  be  deemed  unconscious. 

He  was  just  thinkmg  of  rising,  as  he  lay  on  his  narrow  pallet, 


268  MARIAN   ROOKE  J    OR, 

when  a  hand  passed  lightly  over  his  face,  and  he  knew  that  Ike 
was  beside  him.  He  rose  noiselessly,  and  quickly  finishing  the 
scanty  operations  of  his  toilette,  Gifford  thrust  his  revolver  and 
hunting-knife  into  his  belt,  and  strapping  on  his  knapsack,  in 
which  he  had  provided  a  few  biscuits  and  a  flask  of  whiskey,  the 
two  stole  forth  into  the  darkness.  Lion  was  already  outside  the 
door,  waiting,  apparently  in  accordance  with  a  previous  under 
standing,  until  he  should  be  joined  by  the  others. 

There  was  no  moon*  but  the  stars  were  bright,  and  the  air 
perfectly  still,  and  the  trio  set  forth  on  their  march  amid  that  un 
earthly  silence  seldom  observed,  save  in  a  new  country,  where 
the  sounds  of  humanity  and  its  adjuncts  are  few  and  very  far  be 
tween.  Now  and  again  this  silence  was  interrupted  by  the  dis 
tant  cry  of  a  coyote,  which  made  Lion  sniff  the  air  with  a  con 
temptuous  sort  of  curiosity,  for  he  had  more  than  once  grappled 
with  and  overcome  these  wolves  of  the  prairie ;  but,  for  the  most 
part,  the  silence  was  unbroken. 

All  night  long  they  tramped  on,  keeping  near  the  river  for  a 
guide,  with  an  occasional  look  upwards  at  the  stars  to  make  sure 
of  being  in  the  right  direction.  The  distance  to  Yankee  Jim's 
was  upwards  of  twenty  miles,  a  march  which  might  have  ex 
hausted  many  who  had  not,  like  Hugh  and  Ike,  lived  so  much 
in  the  open  air,  and  who  had  not,  as  they  had,  since  starting  to 
cross  the  plains,  spent  so  much  time  on  their  legs.  As  it  was, 
they  were  not  sorry,  at  the  same  moment  that  they  saw  the  first  red 
streak  of  day,  to  see  the  low  roofs  of  two  or  three  straggling  huts 
which  constituted  the  settlement. 

Here,  as  they  were  well  known,  after  some  little  bargaining, 
Hugh  managed  to  hire  a  couple  of  respectable,  rough  Californian 
ponies,  much  more  surefooted  and  trustworthy  for  a  long  pull 
than  if  they  had  been  two  hands  higher,  or  two  hundred  weight 
heavier  than  they  were.  Having  made  arrangements  to  keep 
the  animals  for  three  days,  Gifford  and  his  companion  turned 
back,  as  if  to  retrace  their  steps  to  the  Bar ;  but  before  a  mile 
had  been  traversed  in  that  direction,  they  wheeled  sharply  to  the 
1  left  and  made  straight  toward  the  north-east. 

All  that  day,  and  far  into  the  following  night,  with  only  an 
occasional  pause  for  frugal  refreshment,  the  two  horsemen  wound, 
and  forced,  and  struggled  their  way  qver  hills,  down  valleys, 
across  brooklets  and  marshes,  skirting  woods,  avoiding  moun 
tains,  sometimes  fighting  through  chaparral.  But  they  always 
made  substantially  for  the  north-east. 

Near  midnight  they  bivouacked  in  a  wood  by  the  side  of  a 
little  stream ;  and  their  sleep  was  even  sounder1  than  common, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  269 

for  their  march  had  been  most  wearisome,  and  with  the  faithful 
Lion  for  a  sentinel,  there  was  small  danger  of  being  surprised. 
However,  they  saw  no  traces  of  Indians,  although  they  were 
now  on  the  borders  of  the  lands  where  they  were  said  to  be 
numerous  ;  and,  although  Ike  averred  that  in  his  previous  wan 
derings  he  had  encountered  them  more  than  once,  their  track  was 
happily  avoided  on  the  present  occasion. 

Towards  daylight  they  again  resumed  their  journey,  and  reso 
lute  as  Gifford  had  been  in  keeping  his  word,  his  heart  half  failed 
him  as  he  found  that  after  all  the  great  distance  they  had  trav 
elled — for  they  must  now  be  more  than  fifty  miles  from  Arm 
strong's  Bar — his  companion  insisted  on  proceeding  still  further. 
The  aspect  of  the  country  had  now  altogether  changed.  The 
smooth,  vernal  character  of  the  plain  had  given  place  to  the 
rugged  wildness  of  a  mountainous  district,  and  each  step  appear 
ed  to  be  taking  them  higher.  The  luxuriant  clambering  vines 
which  thickened  the  chaparral  of  the  lower  country  disappeared, 
and  were  replaced  by  scrubby  oaks,  or  hardy,  jagged  evergreens. 
The  redwoods  grew  scantier  of  foliage,  and  pointed  upwards  with 
sharper  pencils.  The  atmosphere  grew  more  rarefied,  while  its 
temperature  fell.  They  were  evidently  some  thousands  of  feet 
above  the  level  of  th^  sea.  Still  the  simpleton  insisted  that  they 
should  continue  to  push  on. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  during  this  strange  journey  Ike 
had  remained  absolutely  silent  as  to  its  object.  On  the  contrary, 
when  they  had  left  the  settlement  well  behind  them — when  they 
had  cut  themselves  adrift,  as  it  were,  from  all  other  human  knowl 
edge  or  sympathy,  he  began  to  drop  hints  whence  Gifford  was  not 
slow  to  draw  some  enlightenment  touching  his  hopes  and  pur 
poses.  But  Ike  was  not  far  from  wrong  when  he  anticipated 
that  the  knowledge  thus  suggested  might,  at  the  outset,  have 
led  Hugh  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  It  was  clear  that,  whatever 
his  weaknesses  otherwise,  his  sagacity  was  not  at  fault  when  he 
declined  to  be  more  communicative  until  that  enterprise  had  been 
seriously  undertaken. 

The  sun  was  mounting  fast  in  the  heavens,  and  was  several 
hours  high  when  Hugh  began  to  think  it  was  tune  to  take  a 
stand,  and  absolutely  to  refuse  to  go  further.  They  had  truly 
escaped  the  Indians  thus  far,  but  who  should  say  how  long  that 
good  fortune  would  last  ?  At  any  moment  they  were  liable  to 
be  captured,  and,  in  the  temper  the  savages  were  known  to  be, 
it  was  ten  to  one  then'  lives  would  prove  the  sacrifice  of  a  mere 
hare-brained,  profitless  act  of  temerity.  Hugh  pondered  as  to 
how  he  could  explain  his  views  and  his  determination  to  Ike  in 


270  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OB, 

a  manner  such  as  would  avoid  hurting  his  feelings  and  invite  his 
acquiescence.  But,  just  as  the  words  were  on  his  lips,  the  latter, 
who  had  always  led  the  way,  suddenly  dismounted,  and  desired 
Gilford  to  follow  his  example. 

They  were  in  a  wide  valley,  enclosed  on  either  hand  by  high 
mountains,  and  they  had  been  advancing  up  this  valley  for  some 
miles.  As  they  advanced  the  valley  narrowed,  and  at  what  ap 
peared  to  be  its  end — which  they  had  now  reached — a  wall 
of  gray  basaltic  rocks  rose,  frowning,  to  a  great  height,  and  bar 
red  their  farther  progress.  This  wall  seemed  quite  impervious, 
and  when  Ike  fastened  the  horses  with  his  lariat,  and  made  pre 
parations  for  proceeding  on  foot,  Gifford  glanced  curiously  about 
on  every  side  to  see  by  what  path  he  intended  to  make  his 
way.  But  Ike,  beckoning  him  to  follow,  strode  straight  through 
the  bush  as  if  for  the  base  of  the  precipice,  and  Hugh  and  Lion 
followed. 

When  he  got  close  to  the  bottom  of  the  rock,  Ike  turned  to  the 
right,  tracing  its  line  for  a  space  of  two  hundred  yards  and  ;  when 
Hugh  had  accomplished  this  distance,  he  saw  a  singular  rift  or 
cleavage,  bearing  inwards  at  a  very  oblique  angle  to  the  left,  and 
apparently  as  straight  as  if  some  sharp  and  tremendous  instru 
ment  had  split  the  mountain  at  a  blow  from  top  to  base.  Op 
posite  this  passage  was  a  confused  maze  of  brush  and  tangle, 
which  seemed  as  impenetrable  as  the  rock  itself.  Here  the 
guide  paused,  and  called  to  his  dog,  who  came  up  promptly  at 
the  word. 

"In  !  in!  Lion!"  cried  Ike,  and  Lion  instantly  dashed  into  a 
small  aperture  which  had  escaped  GhTord's  eye.  "It's  jest  as 
well,"  explained  Ike,  kito  clear  the  way,  seein'  it's  a- likely  good 
place  for  snakes  and  sech  cattle."  In  a  moment  more  he  was  at 
Lion's  heels,  and  following  him  up  the  gorge. 

As  they  went  on  the  air  became  icily  cold.  Such,  too,  was 
the  height  of  the  rocks  and  the  extreme  narrowness  of  the  pass, 
that  before  they  had  gone  many  steps  it  became  almost  dark, 
and  Gitford  quite  needed  the  assistance  of  his  companions  to  find 
his  way.  For  a  distance  which  seemed  interminable,  but  which 
in  reality  was  about  half  a  mile,  Ike  followed  his  four-footed 
predecessor  silently  on.  Neither  made  any  pause,  and  it  was  evi 
dent  that  the  place  was  well  known  to  both. 

At  last  they  emerged  in  a  space  which  was  very  like  the 
apex  of  an  inverted  cone.  Ranged  around  in  an  almost  exact 
circle,  precipitous  mountains  towered  majestically  in  the  air  to  so 
vast  a  height,  that  while  their  bases  were  sable,  their  peaks  were 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  271 

of  the  most  delicate  ethereal  blue.  The  bottom  of  the  ravine, 
for  an  area  of  perhaps  half  a  dozen  acres,  was  covered  with  vol 
canic  stones,  mingled  with  the  emerald  green  of  patches  of  herb 
age,  and  the  grizzly,  moss-grown  gray  of  venerable  trees.  Scat 
tered  about  were  many  heavy  slabs  of  stone,  some  of  which  were 
blackened  as  by  the  action  of  fire.  The  lower  steeps  of  the 
mountain  were  masked  by  innumerable  parallel  evergreens,  wrhich 
made  up  in  numbers  what  they  lacked  in  denseness  of  foliage, 
and  which  all  pointed  monotonously  upwards. 

When  they  arrived  at  the  centre  of  this  remarkable  retreat, 
Ike  for  the  first  time  turned  and  looked  Gilford  full  in  the  face 
with  an  indescribable  expression  of  triumph.  The  dog,  Lion,  too, 
as  if  knowing  that  after  his  toilsome  march  all  that  was  expected 
of  him  was  performed,  lay  quietly  down,  and  surveyed  the  scene 
with  a  look  of  complacent  satisfaction. 

"Well,  Ike,"  said  Hugh,  after  such  a  pause  as  he  thought  af 
forded  ample  opportunity  for  explanation.  "Well,  Ike!  here 
we  are,  after  all  our  trouble,  and  what  next?"  At  which  Ike 
laughed  aloud,  as  though  one  of  the  most  mirth-exciting  jokes 
had  been  perpetrated  of  which  he  had  ever  been  cognizant,  and 
Lion,  pointing  his  nose  in  the  air,  attested  his  sympathy  by  giv 
ing  vent  to  a  long,  joyous  howl.  ';  What  next  ?"  repeated  Hugh, 
somewhat  impatiently. 

"What  next!"  echoed  the  simpleton,  as  he  dragged  up  and 
overturned  a  huge  slab  of  stone  which  lay  directly  at  his  ques 
tioner's  feet.  "  What  next !  Why,  THIS  !" 

Gifford  started  back  with  a  cry  of  astonishment  and  delight. 
The  ground  beneath  his  feet  was  literally  lined  with  gold.  Some 
fragments  under  the  stone  had  been  certainly  placed  there  by  Ike 
in  the  way  of  a  coup  de  theatre^  but  the  richness  of  the  soil  was  quite 
genuine  enough  to  need  no  artificial  setting  off.  He  rushed 
swiftly  from  place  to  place,  turning  over  the  stones,  striking  up 
the  soil  here  and  there  with  his  knife,  lifting  the  great  nuggets 
Ike  had  accumulated  to  make  sure  of  their  reality,  doing  all  he 
could  think  of,  in  a  word,  to  test  the  truth  of  the  existence  of  the 
treasures  the  place  unquestionably  contained. 

The  valley  was  an  absolute  pocket  of  the  precious  metal  ;  and 
there  lay  there  within  easy  reach  of  surface  digging,  the  value  of 
a  million  of  dollars  in  gold. 

"  All  your'n,  all  your'n  !"  cried  Ike,  dancing  now  in  quite  a 
paroxysm  of  joy.  "  All  your'n  !  A  present  from  me  and  Lion  ! 
You're  rich  now  !  Ye  kin  do  all  ye  want  to  in  the  world  !  And 
all — all — thanks  to  me  and  Lion !"  and  the  poor  fellow  went  into 


272  MARIAN    ROOK;    OR, 

peals  of  idiotic  laughter,  and  finally  threw  himself  on  the  green 
sward  and  burst  into  a  hysterical  passion  of  tears. 

It  was  true.  It  was  fulfilled  suddenly,  indeed,  and  not  in  the 
way  he  expected  or  thought  it  would  have  been  ;  but  the  dream 
and  the  hope  of  Hugh  GifFord's  life  were  accomplished  at  last, 
and  he  was  rich. 


END  OF  THE  THIRD  BOOK. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  273 


BOOK     THE     FOUETH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HOT,  smoky  August !  With  the  golden  grain  bowing  and  tilt 
ing  in  the  breezeless  ah',  and  the  short-cropped  grass,  interlaced 
with  long  lines  of  its  own  stolen  hay  giving  forth  perfume  indeed, 
but  beginning  sharply  to  complain  of  the  want  of  moisture.  With 
the  apples  in  the  orchards  blushing  deeper  and  deeper,  and  the 
long,  long  swells  of  distant  greenwoods  broken  and  flecked  with 
the  crimson  glories  of  the  coming  fall.  *  With  the  hazy  languor 
pervading  everything  which  tells  of  fruition  accomplished,  and 
basking,  voluptuous  rest  for  man  and  beast  during  the  pause 
which  comes  between  the  seasons. 

When  Hugh  Gifford  complained  of  New  England — of  her 
bitter  climate,  her  straight,  formal  roads,  her  dull,  commonplace 
architecture,  her  barren  scenery,  he  was  very  ungrateful  for  what 
he  himself  had  seen  and  enjoyed  among  the  hills  of  Berkshire. 
Scarcely  a  spot  on  the  continent  affords  more  lovely  views,  more 
romantic  vales,  more  charming  little  highland  tarns,  than  the 
neighborhood  of  Lenox  and  Stockbridge.  Far  less  grand  indeed 
than  the  famous  lake  district  of  the  mother  country,  it  is  scarcely 
less  picturesque  and  captivating.  But  poor  Hugh,  like  most  of 
us,  was  swayed  and  tinged  in  his  estimate  of  things  without  by 
the  condition  of  things  within.  The  young  life  had  been  so 
jaundiced  and  embittered,  that  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
scenes  the  remotest  from  those  among  which  it  had  been  passed 
were  idealized  always  as  the  most  beautiful.  There  is  little  ro 
mance  in  the  outer  world  when  a  cloud  is  on  the.  soul,  and  the 
Yale  of  Cashmere  itself  must  have  been  anything  but  paradise  to 
a  captive. 

Not  but  that  Hugh's  strictures  and  complaints  of  man  and 
nature  in  New  England  were  just  and  sound  enough ;  they  were 
both  ;  but,  like  most  censors,  he  only  told  part  of  the  truth,  so 
12* 


274  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

that  without  being  unfaithful  as  to  the  letter,  he  conveyed  but  a 
partial  picture  as  to  the  spirit.  When  he  blamed  the  New 
Englanders  as  sordid  and  grasping,  he  should  also  have  borne 
witness  that  they  were  wonderfully  vigorous  and  industrious. 
When  he  found  just  fault  with  the  narrowness  and  prejudice  of 
their  manners,  he  might  fairly  have  acknowledged  the  general 
uprightness  and  purity  of  their  morals.  When  he  pointed  out 
the  evidences  of  their  weakness,  he  ought  also  to  have  indicated 
the  sources  of  their  strength.  But  few  can  afford  to  be  truly  just 
when  speaking  of  countries  and  peoples  ;  and  it  will  always  hap 
pen  that  in  the  court  which,  on  such  subjects,  regulates  the  world's 
opinion,  there  will  be  a  hundred  advocates  to  a  single  judge. 

There  are  compensations  in  seasons,  as  there  are  apt  to  be  in 
the  characters  of  mankind  ;  and  if  the  winters  and  springs  of 
Massachusetts  are  cruel  and  inhospitable — if  their  very  mention 
reminds  us,  with  a  shiver,  of  Plymouth  Rock  and  the  Mayflower 
— noble  but  most  uncomfortable  reminiscences  !— it  should  be 
owned  that  her  summers  and  autumns  are  proportionally  invit 
ing  and  delightful.  There  can  be  no  season  anywhere  more  de 
licious  than  the  balmy  Indian  summer  ;  and  brief  though  it  be, 
nowhere  are  its  choicest  attractions  more  profusely  bestowed  than 
in  Massachusetts. 

It  was  not  time,  properly,  for  the  Indian  summer  ;  but,  as 
often  happens,  something  very  like  that  season  presented  itself 
towards  the  last  of  August  by  way  of  precursor.  The  red  even 
ing  sun  was  streaming  aslant  the  broad  fields  and  sprinkling  trees 
of  John  Chester's  farm  at  East  Canaan — a  nice,  large  farm,  with 
a  brown  old  wooden  mansion,  and  a  red  old  wooden  barn,  of 
much  greater  size,  overlooking  it  hard  by.  The  land  lay  on 
a  wide  slope,  which  inclined  towards  the  south ;  and  a  silvei  riv 
ulet,  which  was  parallel  to  the  high  road,  went  trickling  on  its 
way  at  its  base.  Facing  this  stream  was  the  farm-house,  with  a 
piazza  on  two  sides,  and  windows  coming  to  the  floor  in  the  sit 
ting-room  and  parlor,  which  respectively  flanked  the  entrance- 
hall.  The  windows  of  the  sitting-room  were  wide  open,  and 
showed  to  any  one  passing  without,  the  quaint,  old-fashioned  fur 
niture,  mingled  here  and  there  with  some  modern  innovation,  of 
the  apartment  within.  They  showed,  too,  a  young  lady  seated 
in  a  rocking-chair,  and  an  old  gentleman  seated  in  an  easy-chair, 
on  either  side  of  a  table  ;  and  that  young  lady  seemed  occupied 
with  a  letter  which  she  held  in  her  hand,  while  the  old  gentleman 
was  equally  absorbed  with -a  child's  slate. 

The  girl  was  very  beautiful.  She  has  been  before  described 
in  these  pages  as  being  fair,  very  fair,  with  hair  of  gold  and  skin 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  275 

of  pearl,  and  as  having  one  charm  rare  in  a  New  England  girl, 
a  low,  musical  voice,  and  another  not  so  rare,  a  sweetly  winning 
smile.  To  read  her  letters,  or  perhaps  to  be  told  the  substance 
of  her  usual  discourse,  one  might  wonder  how  on  earth  Hugh 
Gilford  could  have  fallen  in  love,  or  fancied  he  had  fallen  in  love, 
with  her;  but  to  see  and  to  hear  her  was  far  different.  Then 
the  matter  was  simple  enough.  He  had  seen  this  lovely  crea 
ture,  become  intoxicated  with  her  beauty,  and  straightway  en 
dowed  her  with  ah1  the  preconceived  attractions  of  an  ideal 
mistress  he  had,  ever  since  boyhood,  been  busily  creating  and 
putting  together. 

The  man  was  ah1  lines.  Every  muscle  showed  through  his 
hardy,  weather-beaten  face,  and  his  stringy,  mottled  hands.  His 
hair  was  iron-gray,  close  clipped,  and  grew  low  on  his  wrinkled 
forehead.  The  mouth  was  flat,  but  not  ungarnished  with  humor 
ous  lines,  and  his  deep-set  eyes  were  of  a  light,  twinkling  blue. 
His  chin  and  lips  were  shaven,  but  a  fringe  of  pepper-and-salt 
beard,  hard  and  bristly,  ran  round  his  face  from  ear  to  ear.  He 
was  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  and  occasionally  dried  his  beady  brows 
with  a  silk  handkerchief 

"It's  more'ntwo  year  and  four  months,"  observed  this  per 
sonage,  looking  up  incidentally  from  Ms  calculations.  He  kept 
his  teeth  very  close  together,  apparently  for  fear  of  spilling  some 
thing.  "And  it  was  to  be  for  two  year,"  he  added,  conclu 
sively. 

"Yes,  pa." 

"Which,  seein'  Gaycow's  turned  his  money  twice,  let  alone 
clearin'  off  the  factory  at  Persepolis,  and  keepin'  the  store  a-goin' 
at  Canaan  Centre,  seems  a  heap  o'  time ;  don't  it,  now?" 

"Yes,  pa." 

"  Folks  has  to  fly  round  and  be  up  to  time  now-a-days.  They 
don't  allow  me  no  four  months,  I  notice,  when  the  int'rest  on 
the  mo'gage  comes  doo.  When  Deacon  Pledge  put  the  new 
roof  to  our  barn  the  fall  arter  the  Pennefeathers  sold  their  hay 
at  eighteen-fifly,  I  only  gittin'  eighteen-twenty-five,  I  put  it  to 
ye  now,  did  he  wait  four  months  afore  sendin'  in  his  little  ac 
count?" 

"No,  pa," 

"  That  there  changeable  silk  o'  your'n — ye  had  that  the  time 
Gaycow  come  to  board  with  us ;  they  didn't  wait  no  four  months 
for  that,  nor  nuthin,'  when  they  intermated  they'd  like  then* 
pay?'; 

"No,  pa." 

"  And  when  we  had  to  subscribe  to  send  the  Rev.  Mr.  Baubeo 


276  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

to  Europe,  to  cure  his  browncheeters,  he  wanted  it  afore  he 
went,  may  be,  and  not  arterwards?" 

"But,  pa,  people  can't  measure  time  for  engagements  just  as 
if  they  were  bills,  you  know." 

"  I  dunno ;  some  folks  does.  Look  at  Gaycow  ;  he's  a  busi 
ness  man,  he  is.  You  know  what  he  said  the  time  of  his 
grandma's  funeral"?  It  was  a  Saturday  afternoon,  ye  know, 
over  to  Stockbridge ;  and  Saturday  bein'  an  awful  busy  day, 
Canaan  folks  sniggered  some  to  think  'twould  put  him  out ;  but 
he  had  the  work  all  done,  and  the  cash  all  balanced,  and  every 
thing  put  through  in  good  shape,  and  arrived  jest  as  people  was 
sneerin'  he  wouldn't  come  to  his  own  father's  mother's  funeral, 
and  jest  as  the  coffin  was  bein'  lugged  out  o'  the  house.  And 
says  he,  '  Business  fust  and  pleasure  afterwards ' ;  so  from  that 
day,  I  says  allers  to  myself,  Gaycow's  bound  to  be  a  rich  man." 

"I  think  it  was  a  very  unfeeling  speech." 

"  Onfeelin'  1  It  didn't  hurt  nobody,  did  it  ?  It  didn't  set  the 
old  lady  back  any,  I  reckon ;  and  it  showed  Gaycow  never 
wasted  his  time.  He's  a  different  man,  I  take  it,  from  Hugh 
Gifford." 

"Yes,"  sighed  Virginia,  "very  different." 

"  One  on  'em,"  said  Mr.  Chester,  ejecting  something  into  a 
box  of  sand  near  by,  and  afterwards  speaking  with  more  facility ; 
"one  on  'em's  a  business  man,  and  the  other  ain't;  that's  all 
there  is  about  it." 

"  Hugh  was  bred  to  a  profession,  pa,  and  it  takes  longer  to 
get  on  in  a  profession  than  it  does  in  trade.  Besides,  he's  been 
unfortunate." 

"Unfortinnit!     Yes,   in  never  stickin'  to  any  thin'.     Purfes-' 
sion !     Well,  look  at  our  John.     He's  been  at  it  the  same  time, 
and  look  at  him.     He's  stuck  to  it,  and  he's  riz  from  pint  to 
pint,  until  at  last  he's  goin'  to  have  a  Murder.     Only  last  week, 
he  writ  me  that  this  fall  he'd  have  a  Murder." 

' '  John  has  a  different  temperament.  It  costs  him  no  effort 
whatever  to  stick,  as  you  call  it,  to  a  single  pursuit,  he's  so 
steady-going  and  phlegmatic.  Then  he's  always  had  an  allow 
ance,  not  much,  to  be  sure,  but  always  enough  to  keep  him." 

"Ah,  well,  it's  easy  onderratin'  of  him ;  and  bime  by,  if  he 
turns  out  a  Dan' el  Webster,  or  a  Rufus  Choate,  ye' 11  sing  another 
song.  But  settin'  him  aside,  jest  think  how  many  there  is 
who've  come  home  from  Californy  in  a  year  with  enough  to  set 
'em  up  slick  and  easy  for  life.  Let's  hear  agen  what  'tis  he  says 
about  it." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  277 

Virginia  turned  the  letter  she  held  in  her  hand,  and  read  from 
its  last  page  as  follows : 

"  .  .  During  most  of  my  stay  in  California,  then,  I  have  cer 
tainly  been  less  fortunate  than  many  others.  You  are  already 
aware  of  the  losses  our  company  sustained  through  the  dishonesty 
of  one  of  their  number.  After  that,  the  yield  of  gold  from  the 
Bar  became  very  small,  and  it  has  never  been  greater  since  than 
to  afford  a  very  slender  margin  beyond  what  has  been  necessary 
for  bare  subsistence.  Unlike  other  gold  diggings,  ours  has  been 
poor  and  unsatisfactory ;  and  after  a  trial  of  many  months,  I  am 
not  disposed  to  work  at  Armstrong's  Bar  any  further.  The  oc 
cupation  at  best  is  uncongenial  to  me ;  but  when  it  is  also  almost 
utterly  unprofitable,  the  incentive  to  its  pursuit  is  indeed  small. 
Notwithstanding  this  want  of  success,  however,  I  am  not  with 
out  high  hopes  for  the  future  in  other  fields.  That  good  in  the 
world  which  it  seems  I  am  not  to  do  here,  I  hope  to  do  else 
where.  In  a  word,  I  am  on  the  point  of  leaving  California;  and 
trust  in  a  few  weeks,  or  perhaps  in  less,  to  be  able  to  follow  this 
letter.  It  may  be  within  a  few  days  after  it  reaches  you,  that  I 
also  may  be  with  you ;  when  it  is  my  anticipation  to  meet  the 
same  sympathy  and  interest  in  my  hopes  and  prospects  which 
have  never  been  wanting  heretofore." 

The  reader  paused  here,  and  read  the  last  sentence  a  second 
time ;  and  then  paused  again,  and  laid  the  letter  on  her  lap. 

"  Now,  that  ain't  what  I  call  a  business  letter,"  criticised  Mr. 
Chester,  with  his  teeth  close  together,  for  the  impediment  was 
accumulating  again.  "Why  don't  he  say  right  out  how  much 
money  he's  got  ?  I  don't  kear  a  darn  'bout  sympathy,  nor  yit 
interest,  nuther,  'cept  the  interest  on  my  mo' gage.  I  put  it  to  ye 
now,  ain't  a  bargain  a  bargain  ?" 

"  Yes,  pa." 

"  Well,  the  bargain  was,  that  in  two  years  he  was  to  accoo- 
moolate  a  certain  sum,  pintin'  allers  to  the  easin'  of  my  mo' gage  ; 
sech  a  transaction  to  be  follered  by  another,  to  which  you  bein' 
the  princerpal,  with  my  consent." 

"Yes,  pa." 

"  Well,  now,  Virginuy,  it  looks  to  me  as  if  nuther  on  ye  was 
so  set  on  carryin'  out  that  transaction  as  ye  was  two  year  ago." 

"Does it,  pa?" 

"  It  looks  to  me,"  continued  Mr.  Chester,  drawing  his  lines 
closer  and  harder,  and  eyeing  his  daughter  in  a  gimblety  sort  of 
fashion,  "as  if  nuther  on  ye'd  fret  much  if  that  'ere  transaction 
was  laid  on  the  table." 

"Yes,  pa." 


278  MARIAN    liOOKE;     OR, 

"  It  looks  to  me,"  he  proceeded,  expectorating  boldly,  and  be 
coming  more  confident  and  free  of  speech  as  a  consequent,  "  as 
if  one  side  of  a  bargain  bein'  broke,  the  other  gits  sot  free,  as  a 
matter  of  course." 

Virginia  said  nothing,  but  kept  looking  at  the  letter  in  her 
lap. 

"  Symperthies  and  prospecs,"  observed  her  father,  philosophi 
cally,  after  a  reasonable  pause  for  a  reply,  "  air  very  good  things 
in  their  way,  but  they  won't  keep  the  pot  a  boilin',  nor  the  mare 
a  goin'.  Talkin'  of  which,"  he  added,  casually,  "have  you  seen 
that  'ere  new  span  of  Gaycow's  1" 

No,  Virginia  hadn't. 

"Talk  to  me  o'  yer  Cuticle  Flips,"  said  Mr.  Chester,  with  en 
thusiasm.  "Why,  they  ain't  nowhere.  It's  the  pootiest  turnout 
I  ever  see,  and  if  even  the  Baubee  grays  kin  hold  a  candle  to 
that  span,  ye  kin  boot  me,  that's  all !" 

"  I  heard  the  horses  were  very  handsome." 

"  And  that  'ere  new  house  front  o'  his'n,"  went  on  pa,  rhap- 
sodically ;  "  it  mayn't  be  the  Baubee  Parthenon,  but  its  a  likelier 
elevation,  to  my  way  o'  thinkin'.  I  heer'n  tell  it  was  moddled  on 
the  Alhambry." 

"Ah!" 

"What  with  the  Canaan  Varieties,  and  the  Persepolis  Fac 
tory,  he  can't  be  a  rakin'  in  less  than  three  thousand  dollars  a 
year." 

"Every  one  says  he's  growing  rich." 

"Puttin'  of  it  short,  Virginny,"  concluded  Mr.  Chester,  fixing 
his  lines  at  their  sternest  tension,  and  heavily  augmenting  the 
contents  of  the  sand-box — "Puttin'  of  it  short,  if  John  gits  a 
Murder,  I  think  the  least  you  kin  do  is  to  clear  off  that  mo'gage  " 

"If  Hugh  brings  back  money "  began  Virginia,  faintly. 

"Don't  run  away  with  that  idee  now,  I  warn  ye.  I  never 
know'd  a  man  yit  who'd  made  money  who  was  ashamed  to  say 
so.  Why  should  they  be  ?  Seein'  it  makes  'em  pop'lar  and  re 
spected,  and  gives  'em  credick  and  importance  with  their  feller 
men  ?  I  don't  bet  much  on  a  young  man  goin'  on  thirty  who  trav 
els  excloosive  on  his  symperthies  and  prospecs.  Travellin'  on 
new  roofs  and  mo'gages;  or,  may  be,"  with  a  keen  concentra 
tion  of  the  facial  lines  on  his  daughter,  "  or,  may  be,  travellin' 
on  new  spans  and  Alhambrys  soots  my  style.  There's  allers 
time  for  syinperthizin'  and  prospectin'  arter  folks  gits  ahead  in 
the  world ;  and  it's  a  blamed  bad  sign  if  they  take  to't  when 
they're  behindhand." 

"We  can't  expect  people  to  be  all  alike,  pa.     Hugh  was 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  279 

brought  up  very  differently  from  many  we  know.  He  is  a  very 
sensitive  man  and  has  been  highly  educated,  and  naturally  writes 
and  feels  as  many  wouldn't." 

"  Has  his  eddication  pinted  out  any  gold  mines  ?  Has  bein* 
sensitive  made  him  any  cuter  on  the  main  chance  ?  This  here 
ain't  no  country  for  palaverin'  and  splittin'  hairs,  but  for  workiu' 
and  makin'  money  in.  I  tell  ye  what  it  is,  Virginny,  I'm  in  the 
best  kind  of  a  position  to  judge  about  these  things.  I  married 
poor ;  not  but  I  allers  loved  your  mother  as  long  as  she  lived, 
poor  thing ;  but,  pecooniarily  speaking,  that 'ere  ill-judged  trans 
action  has  been  pullin'  of  me  back  all  my  life.  Its  been  the 
cause  of  mo' gages  and  leaky  roofs  and  poor  hay,  and  a  heap  o' 
troubles  besides.  I've  bin  a  racin'  all  my  days  to  git  even  on 
that  fust  mistake.  I  don't  want  to  offer  to  coerce  ye,  far  from 
it ;  but  I  put  it  to  ye  to  choose  atween  abundance  and  stent, 
comfort  and  onsartainty,  Gifford  and  Gaycow.  Fur  be  it  from 
me  to  offer  to  set  ye  agin'  your  future  happiness ;  and  if  the 
mo'gage  is  made  all  right,  I  won't  say  boo,  leastways  unless  I'm 
asked ;  in  which  case,  as  a  father,  I  still  think  I  should  say  Gay- 
cow." 

With  this  statement  Mr.  Chester  departed,  in  the  belief 
that  a  favorable  period  had  arrived  for  leaving  his  daughter  to 
her  own  reflections.  Perhaps  his  sagacity  was  not  at  fault  when 
he  abstained  from  urging  his  wishes  more  strenuously.  The  ex 
hibition  of  a  strong  will  often  provokes  opposition  where  a  mere 
amiitble  preference  will  enlist  concurrence  ;  a  probability  which 
many  a  parent,  from  the  time  of  old  Capulet  downwards,  has  for 
gotten,  to  his  own  detriment,  but  to  which  the  Yankee  farmer 
was  fully  alive.  He  was  not  ignorant,  too,  that  he  had  formi 
dable  allies  lighting  on  his  side ;  allies  whose  aid  was  unremit 
ting,  and  of  a  character  which  he  had  seldom  known  to  fail.  The 
constant  reference  of  all  hopes  and  purposes  to  the  most  sordid 
passions  which  find  entrance  in  the  human  breast,  on  the  part  of 
all  who  came  in  contact  with  her — the  feminine  love  of  dress,  and 
the  scarcely  less  potent  love  of  the  elegant  and  costly  in  furni 
ture  and  equipage — the  bitter  disappointment  she  felt  at  heart  on 
the  score  of  Hugh's  apparent  failure — all  these  were  perpetually 
at  work  to  second  her  father's  wish  to  break  off  the  engagement. 
There  Avas  also  a  further  emotion  in  Virginia's  breast,  which  had 
ever  been  latent  there,  but  which  might  have  remained  inactive 
or  ultimately  have  been  altogether  extinguished  but  for  the 
other  verifying  causes.  This  was  a  certain  fear  of  Gifford.  which 
had  its  rise  in  a  conviction  of  his  ability  to  detect,  and  his  readi 
ness  to  condemn,  various  tastes  and  weaknesses  whose  hidul- 


280  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

gence  it  would  quite  mar  the  pleasure  of  her  life  to  forego.  She 
knew — as  most  women,  even  if  they  are  not  very  intellectual, 
are«wift  to  know — that  his  admiration  for  her  beauty,  at  first  BO 
undisguised,  would  not  always  blind  him  to  qualities  which 
lay  behind  it ;  and  she  shrank  from  the  discovery  and  its  conse 
quences. 

There  was  none  of  this  sort  of  apprehension  mingled  with  her 
thoughts  of  Gaycow.  If  she  was  fond  of  dress,  he  was  fond  of 
dress.  If  she  admired  showy  furniture  and  stylish  equipages, 
he  admired  them  as  well.  If  she  derived  ah  extravagant  gratifi 
cation  from  exciting  the  envy  and  wonder  of  Canaan,  it  was  a 
passion  wherein  he  could  fully  participate.  If  she  could  glory 
in  a  turn-out  that  eclipsed  the  Baubee  grays — could  exult  in  pal 
ing  the  glow-worm  of  a  Parthenon  before  the  sun  of  an  Alham- 
bra — were  not  these  the  objects  of  his  choicest  ambition  ? 

To  do  Virginia  justice,  there  was,  however,  enough  of  her  to 
enable  her  to  despise  Gaycow ;  but  she  thought  it  might  perhaps 
be  better  to  despise  than  be  despised.  This  may  not  be  an  un 
natural  illusion,  even  if  the  alternative  is  soundly  put ;  the  mis 
ery  it  has  occasioned,  and  every  day  does  occasion,  many  a 
woman  who  reads  these  pages  can  attest.  Virginia  knew  that 
the  faculties  which  enabled  Mr.  Gaycow  to  buy  cheap  and  sell 
dear ;  to  delude  his  customers  into  paying  a  larger  profit  than 
his  capital  and  industry  fairly  earned ;  to  save  interest  by  putting 
off  payment,  and  to  make  it  by  insisting  upon  its  addition  to  ac 
counts  owing  to  himself;  to  get  the  better,  by  one  device  of  an 
other,  in  short,  of  three-fourths  of  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact ;  Virginia  knew  that  these  faculties,  if  not  utterly  and 
comprehensively  base,  were  still  among  the  lowest  and  least 
worthy  which  a  man  could  possess.  She  knew  that  if  they  ena 
bled  him  to  heap  up  millions,  he  would  still  be  by  far  the  inferior 
of  Hugh  Gifford,  standing  unfriended  and  without  a  dollar. 
But,  unhappily,  she  also  knew  that  the  world  by  which  she  was 
surrounded  Avould  not  agree  with  her  in  this  estimate  ;  and  to 
captivate,  subdue,  outshine  the  world,  to  conquer  its  suffrage, 
and  taste  to  the  full  its  pleasures,  were  objects  too  darling  to  be 
entirely  foregone.  Her  soul  recoiled  too  with  genuine  disgust  at 
the  prospect  of  a  long  career  of  poverty — perhaps  even  want- 
as  the  bride  of  a  man  whom  the  Canaanites  were  unlikely  ever 
to  delight  to  honor  ;  a  poor,  paltry,  gossiping  village  circle,  per 
haps  ;  "but  was  it  not  better  to  despise  than  to  be  despised ! 

When  she  contemplated  the  prospect  of  Hugh's  returning  rich 
and  prosperous,  such  a  contrast  as  this  never  suggested  itself  to 
her  mind.  She  only  thought  that  young  men  who  went  away 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  281 

from  home  poor,  were  expected  to  make  and  bring  home  their 
fortunes  as  matters  of  course.  There  was  something  horribly 
blank  and  dreary  in  the  idea  of  a  young  man  coming  home  poorer 
than  he  went !  Canaan  might  stand  much,  but  nothing  so  mad 
as  that.  The  opinion  of  the  world  may  be  worthless  enough, 
but  since  we  are  compelled  to  live  in  it,  for  comfort's  sake,  if 
nothing  else,  we  must  really  pay  it  some  little  deference.  What 
a  sickening  sensation  it  would  be  to  be  dusted  by  the  triumphal 
chariot  of  Gaycow  ;  to  be  smiled  upon  with  cold  commiseration 
by  the  Pastile  F.  Baubees  ;  to  be  openly  sneered  at  by  the  Pen- 
nifeathers ;  to  be  calmly  cut  by  that  Belle  Tarbox  who  had  mar 
ried  so  excellent  a  Thing  in  fish  !  Ugh !  it  must  not — could  not 
— be  thought  of. 

Sometimes  nobler  thoughts  would  rise  in  Virginia's  breast,  and 
she  would  say  to  herself,  that  if  Hugh  were  unhappy,  so  much 
the  greater  his  need  for  consolation ;  that  if  fortune  proved  faith 
less  to  him,  so  much  the  more  her  cause  to  be  faithful ;  that,  after 
all,  riches  of  any  material  sort  might  take  wings  to  them 
selves  and  fly  away ;  how,  for  example,  would  she  like  to  be  a 
poor  Mr.  Gaycow  ?  but  that  a  true  and  honest  love  had  no  wings 
after  they  had  once  borne  it  to  a  lasting  resting-place.  Besides 
— and  here  the  selfish  element  came  in'again — Hugh  was  an  in 
tellectual  man,  and  such  men  often  made  their  mark  and  took 
the  world  by  storm  in  the  long  run,  even  when  insignificant 
enough  and  little  heeded  at  the  outset.  Such  a  triumph  she 
thought  was  something  like  that  of  true  love,  in  that  it  could  not 
be  taken  or  tricked  away  by  the  caprices  of  fortune. 

Such  were  Virginia's  thoughts  as  she  gazed  forth  on  that 
smoky  August  evening,  as  the  sun  went  down  in  his  blood-red 
glory,  and  the  yellow  moon,  like  a  disk  of  burnished  gold,  sailed 
slowly  up  in  the  opposite  sky.  She  had  to  think  gravely,  and  to 
decide  quickly  too  ;  for  the  same  moon  that  looked  pityingly 
down  upon  her  troubled  counsels,  looked  down  on  the  trackless 
ocean  as  well,  and  lighted  the  ship  which  bore  her  betrothed  as 
it  breasted  the  waves  which  rolled  about  his  home. 


282  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 


CHAPTER  II. 

"  ANOTHER  year  !" 

"  Only,  if  you  think  it  best,  Virginia.  I  propose  that  you 
shall  have  the  option.  For  me,  I  am  ready  at  any  time — now, 
this  week  if  you  will — to  fulfil  our  engagement." 

"  But,  you  see,  father  thinks  that — -that  under  all  the  circum 
stances  it  would  be  so  imprudent, — so " 

"  Precisely.     And  for  that  reason  I  propose  the  alternative." 

"  That  would  make  six  years,  Hugh." 

"I  know.  Too  long,  in  all  fairness,  to  keep  any  girl  wait 
ing  ;  I  acknowledge  that  ;  but  the  decision  must  rest  with  her 
self.  There  is  no  obligation  here,  save  on  the  man's  part." 

"  I'm  sure  I've  never  changed,  Hugh,"  her  voice  trembled  a 
little  as  she  spoke,  "but  if  I  can- escape  being  thought  undutiful 
and  rash " 

"  You  had  rather  do  so.  That  seems  rational  enough,  and  I 
quite  agree  it  would  be  wise  to  avoid  such  an  imputation.  It  is 
only  reasonable,  I  repeat,  that  since  my  share  of  the  contract  ap 
pears  to  have  been  only  partially  kept- — I  mean  since  I  am .  riot 
ready  to  do  what  your  papa  stipulated  for,  and  I  agreed  to — that 
you  should  have  the  choice  of  waiting  still  further,  or — or  of 
holding  yourself  entirely  absolved." 

Virginia  looked  at  him.  He  looked  older  than  when  she  saw 
him  last,  by  more  than  two  years.  His  face  was  tanned  and 
roughened,  too,  so  that  the  delicate  cutting  of  the  features,  and 
the  rather  feminine  beauty  of  the  complexion,  had  no  longer  the 
attractions  they  used  to  have.  Then,  his  clothes  !  If  he  wished 
to  appear  to  advantage  before  his  lady  love,  what  persuaded  Gif- 
ford  to  wear  that  dark,  rusty,  suit  which  was  so  suspiciously  like 
the  one  she  had  last  seen  him  wear  ?  She  bit  her  lips  with  a 
scarcely  concealed  vexation,  and  he  followed  her  eyes  with  a 
pained,  and  yet  curious  smile. 

"  Pray  understand,  Virginia,  that  in  proposing  our  immediate 
marriage,  I  consider  myself  quite  in  a  position  to  support  a  wife ; 
and  that  there  does  not  seem  to  me  the  least  reason  to  fear  that 
my  position  will  become  worse  than  it  now  is." 

"  I  understand,"  she  said.  It  was  in  a  tone  which  implied 
that  she  did  not  think  it  possible. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  283 

"So  that,"  continued  Gifford,  quietly,  " there  need  be  no  ap 
prehension  on  your  part  of  burthening  me,  prematurely,  with  such 
responsibilities.  You  may  be  sure  there  is  no  danger  of  that." 

Virginia  knew  that  she  had  not  thought  of  the  contingency  in 
precisely  such  a  bearing.  She  knew  that  her  sole  reflections  had 
been  of  hardship  to  herself  in  foregoing  competency — of  wedding 
respectable  poverty  when  she  had  expected  easy  abundance. 
There  was  something  wretchedly  disgusting  to  her  in  this  placid 
contemplation  of  a  mere  honest,  homely  subsistence  in  place  of 
the  style,  the  fashion,  the  elegance  she  had  so  often  thought  of, 
yearned  for,  and  anticipated  ;  and  she  heaved  a  deep,  woeful 
sigh. 

"  The  chances  are,"  said  Hugh,  "  indeed,  that  my  prospects 
may  be  better  rather  than  worse.  Still  I  had  rather  you  did 
not  look  forward  to  any  material  change  for  some  years  to 
come." 

She  made  an  impatient  gesture.  "  Why  should  I  look  ibr 
change  at  ah1  ?"  she  exclaimed,  with  ill  suppressed  bitterness.  "  I 
am  only  a  plain  farmer's  daughter  ;  and  a  poor  one  at  that.  I 
ought  to  content  myself,  I  take  it,  to  stay  in  the  position  I  was 
born  in  without  looking  to  rise  out  of  it." 

"Most  people,"  said  Gifford,  regarding  her  steadily,  *'in  this 
country  strive  to  rise  in  the  world.  It  may  be  right,  or  it  may 
be  wrong.  It  may,  or  not,  make  them  happier.  But  such  is  the 
fact  ;  and  there  is  nothing  unusual  or  blamable  in  such  an  ambi 
tion.  But  I  infer,  from  what  you  say,  that  you  don't  care  to 
wait  for  another  year — is  it  so  ?" 

"I  don't  qiute  know  what  to  say,"  answered  Virginia,  hesita 
ting.  ' '  You  see,  father  has  run  away  with  an  idea  that  you 
shouldn't  have  come  home  unless — unless " 

"  Unless  I  had  made  a  fortune  ?" 

u  At  least,  without  being  better  off  than  you  went.  And  he's 
more  strict  and  exacting  about  such  things  than  ever.  And 
John  being  away — and  mother  gone,  you  know — I  being  an 
only  child,  and  to  leave  him  contrary  to  his  -will,  and  quite 
alone " 

"  True.     It  is  natural  and  right  that  you  should  hesitate." 

There  was  a  mixture  of  truth  and  deceit — of  pathos  and  hy- 
pocricy — in  what  Virginia  said  that  too  often  colors  the  argu 
ments  of  poor,  frail  mortals.  Her  father  knew  ah1  she  did  about 
Giflord's  position.  He  was  more  anxious  than  not  to  get  her  off 
his  hands,  so  that  she  went  off  handsomely.  The  rest  of  it  was 
genuine  enough.  Hugh  put  the  best  acceptation  upon  the 
whole. 


284  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

"  Let  the  matter  be  referred  to  your  father,  then,"  he  said, 
"  and,  with  his  aid  and  counsel,  come  to  your  decision." 

If  it  be  true  that  a  man  loves  the  meat  in  his  youth  he  cannot 
endure  in  his  age,  and  that  such  fickleness  involves  no  moral  de 
linquency,  I  cannot  see  the  justice  of  the  eternal  censures  level 
led  against  changes  in  matters  of  the  heart.  It  may  be  urged 
that  Hugh  Gifford  never  really  loved  Virginia  Chester,  since  all 
the  time  that  he  was  speaking  with  her,  the  image  of  Marian 
Rooke  was  conjured  up  beside  her,  and  constantly  supplying  the 
means  for  invidious  comparisons.  But,  whether  he  ever  had  or 
not,  he  was  firmly  resolved  that  no  chance  for  real  happiness 
should  be  lost  to  her  through  him,  so  far  as  it  was  clear  that  he 
could  supply  it.  There  may  be  various  opinions  as  to  the  course 
he  was  pursuing ;  some  men,  under  all  the  circumstances,  might 
have  behaved  differently  and  better ;  some  might  have  behaved 
differently  and  worse  ;  but,  as  always,  we  have  to  deal  not  with 
wfcat  he  might  have  done,  but  with  what  Gifford  actually  did. 

This  was  within  a  week  of  the  time  when  Virginia  had  receiv 
ed  his  letter,  so  that  her  father  and  herself  had  had  ample  time 
to  discuss  the  question  in  all  its  possible  lights  and  bearings. 
Gifiord  had  arrived  at  New  York,  and  almost  directly  after  made 
his  way  to  Canaan,  and  unfolded  himself  as  has  been  related.  -As 
he  walked  slowly  back  to  the  village  tavern  where  he  had  left 
his  slender  luggage,  he  passed  a  very  large  and  flaunting  shop, 
over  which,  in  letters  of  gold,  was  suspended  the  following 
legend : 


ALPHONSO  GATCOW  AND  Co., 

W.  I.  GOODS,  DRY  GOODS,  AND  GENERAL  PRODUCE. 


In  front  of  this  shop  stood  a  vehicle,  or  rather  the  skeleton  of 
a  vehicle,  tastefully  painted  in  lake  and  gold,  and  weighing  ap 
parently  about  fifty  or  sixty  pounds.  To  this  vehicle  were  at 
tached  two  prodigiously  tall  bay  horses,  well  groomed  and  har 
nessed,  and  in  a  high  state  of  impatience.  Hugh  looked  at  the 
establishment  with  some  surprise,  as  being  a  somewhat  unusual 
turn-out  for  a  quiet  country  neighborhood  ;  but  he  had  not  the 
remotest  idea  how  far  it  or  its  owner,  the  flashy  shopkeeper 
aforesaid,  might  have  any  effect  upon  his  own  matrimonial  pros 
pects. 

The  aid  and  counsel  of  Mr.  Chester,  who  was  ever  of  a  prac- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  285 

tical  turn,  were  concise  and  pointed  enough.     He  saw  Virginia ' 
immediately  after  herjiance's  departure,  and  listened  to  her  recital 
of  the  conversation  with  interest  and  impatience. 

"Wait  another  year!"  he  exclaimed,  as  this  proposal  was 
touched  upon.  "Why,  he'll  want  ye  to  wait  till  ye  look  like 
the  last  of  pea-time,  and  no  one  else  '11  have  ye." 

Virginia  smiled,  and  glanced  at  the  old-fashioned  mirror  over 
the  mantel  with  an  assurance  that  expressed  a  mind  at  ease  on 
that  point,  if  upon  no  other. 

'•I  know — I  know."  said  her  parent,  answering  the  glance. 
"I  know  you're  dreadful  handsome — no  pootier  girl  in  Canaan,  no, 
not  in  Centre,  East  or  West ;  but  looks  is  looks,  and  don't  last 
allers.  However,  that's  neither  here  nor  there.  Here's  the  pint: 
how  much  did  he  say  he  was  wuth?" 

"Why,  pa,  I  didn't  ask  him  that." 

"Didn't  ask  him?" 

"  No,  pa,  how  should  I  ?" 

Pa  gazed  at  his  offspring  curiously  for  a  while,  as  though  she 
had  suddenly  become  a  highly  interesting  psychological  study. 
He  was  reflecting,  perhaps,  that  for  his  part  he  should  hardly  have 
asked  Giflbrd  anything  else.  Then  a  vision  dawned  upon  him 
as  he  rolled  over  his  quid,  and  knotted  and  unkuotted  his  astute 
countenance,  that  possibly  there  might  be  some  indelicacy  in  a 
young  lady  thus  situated  putting  so  leading  a  question,  and  that, 
after  all,  it  left  the  whole  field  of  interesting  inquiry  open  to  his 
own  strictly  appropriate  investigation. 

"  He  looks  kind  o'  seedy,  don't  he  ?"  he  asked  indirectly. 

"  I'm  afraid,  poor  fellow,  he  isn't  too  rich,"  sighed  Virginia. 

1 4  Poor  fellow  \v  echoed  Mr.  Chester.  "Poor  fellow  !  Come 
now,  don't.  It  ain't  so  bad's  all  that  comes  to,  is  it  ?" 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  as  bad  as  that  comes  to," 
cried  Virginia,  pettishly.  "  But  it  seems  to  me  if  he  had  any 
thing  to  speak  of,  he  wouldn't  keep  so  still  about  it." 

"It  ain't  the  way  in  Canaan,  that's  a  fact.  But  may  be  he 
means  to  surprise  ye." 

"No.  He  says  if  we  marry  now,  there'll  be  no  material 
change — for  the  better  he  means — anyhow  for  some  years." 

"But  he  wants  ye  to  wait  anuther  fust?" 

"  He  doesn't  want  me  to,  or  not  to ;  but  to  do  as  I  like,  he 
says,  and  as  you  think  best." 

Mr.  Chester  chewed  on  for  some  time  in  contemplative  silence. 
"  I  bin  round  to  the  tavern,"  he  observed,  at  length,  thought 
fully,  "  and  see  his  luggage.  Things  was  so  I  couldn't  look  int' 


286  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

the   insides  of  all  on  'em ;    but  the  gen'ral  aspect  is  blamed 
skeary." 

"  You  shouldn't  have  done  that,  pa,"  said  Virginia,  coloring. 

"  It  was  quite  permiscuous  and  onbeknown.  Buyin'  a  plug 
of  terbakker,  may  be,  and  happenin'  round  the  house  afterwards. 
Besides,  they  was  all  a  lookin'  at  it." 

"All!     Who?" 

"  Who  ?  Why,  Jake  Barker,  and  Jim  Pennifeather,  and  Gay- 
cow,  and  all  on  'em ;  bein'  one  o'clock  and  all  hum  to  dinner. 
East  Canaan's  dull  jest  now,  and  news  is  news." 

"Did  he — did  Alphonso — know  who  it  was  that  had  come?" 

"Bless  ye,  yes;  and  all  about  it; -and  so  does  all  Canaan. 
And  the  hull  place  is  watchin'  the  thing  to  see  how  the  cat'll 
jump." 

Virginia  reddened  more  than  before.  "You  mean  to  see 
whether  my  engagement  with  Mr.  Gilford  is  broken  off  or 
not  f 

"  Sartain.  There's  a  gin'ral  feelin'  that  if  he's  come  back 
empty-handed — and  it  looks  plaguey  like  it — that  it's  darned 
bad  treatmemt ;  and  that  there  ain't  a  gal  in  Canaan' d  put  up 
with  it ;  leastways  no  gal  not  with  your  advantages.  And  old 
Jake,  bein"  a  fifty  year  friend,  as  I  may  say,  went  so  fur  as  to 
tell  me  that  it  was  my  dooty  to  put  my  foot  down,  and  that  if 
Mr.  Baubeewas  to  hum  he'd  put  a  stop  to  the  hull  thing  quicker  I" 
and  Mr.  Chester  screwed  his  face  up  into  a  tight  knot,  spat 
profusely  into  the  sand-box,  and  looked  inquiringly  at  his 
daughter. 

"It's  no  one's  business  what  I  choose  to  do  in 'the  matter, 
pa,"  she  replied,  with  some  heat,  "  any  more  than  it  is  to  inves 
tigate  Mr.  Gifford's  luggage." 

"Well,  Canaan  will  be  Canaan,  ye  know,  Virginny,  and  the 
folks  feel  as  though  they  ought  to  be  up  to  every  think.  If  they 
thought  ye  was  no  account,  they  wouldn't  be  so  curus." 

"Consoling,  certainly.  The  more  insignificant  a  person  is, 
the  less  they'll  be  pestered -with  impertinent  curiosity." 

"Jest  so.  Talkin'  of  beans,"  continued  Mr.  Chester,  after  a 
short  pause,  "there  was  Alphonsy's  new  turn-out  front  o'  the 
store,  as  large  as  life.  And  comin'  down  Evergreen  Avenoo 
there  was  Amandy  Stokes  in  that  raspin'  gownd  you  call  a  Mur 
ray  Ann  Tick.  No  sooner  on  Main  Street,  than  down  she  sails 
straight  for  the  store.  So  I  halted  right  round  our  corner,  and 
peeked  a  spell,  and,  sure  enough,  out  come  Gaycow  and  hists 
her  into  the  wagon,  and  away  they  went  up  the  street  as  though 
they  was  sent  for !" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  287 

No  answer. 

"I  reckon,"  observed  Mr.  Chester,  pleasantly,  "they  was 
goin'  for  a  nice  drive  to  Crab-apple  Grove ;  or  may  be  to  Spy 
Pond." 

Virginia  was  silent  still. 

"I  heer'n  tell,"  continued  her  father,  after  another  pause,  "the 
Splodge  gals  bein'  well  posted  on  such  truck,  that  'ere  Murray 
Ann  Tick  cost  more'n  four  dollars  a-yard." 

"It  couldn't  1"  cried  Virginia,  breaking  out  violently  ;  "three- 
and-a-half  at  the  outside,  and  dear  at  that!" 

Mr.  Chester  shook  his  head  sorrowfully:  "  Hen  Splodge  's 
been  clerk  to  A.  B.  Cookey  and  Co.'s,  in  Bosting,  five  year,  goin' 
on  six,  Virginny.  I  reckon  the  gals  is  posted  on  them  things, 
if  any  one  is.  Besides,"  he  added,  reflectively,  "  Gaycow's 
smart,  he  is,  and  I  don't  think,  as  things  are  goin',  he'd  kear  to 
drive  out  anything  at  three-and-a-half." 

"Nonsense,  pa;  he  wouldn't  think  of  such  a  thing.  And 
he  wouldn't  drive  that  homely  girl  out  at  all,  if  Hugh  Gifford 
wasn't  here." 

"Why,"  queried  pa,  ingenuously,  "what's  that  got  to  do  with 
it  ?" 

"  Never  mind.     What  is  it  you  want  me  to  say  ?" 

"Say!     What  about1?" 

"Why,  to  Mr.  Gifford,  to  be  sure.  He's  coming  this  evening 
to  hear  what  you  think,  and  we're  to  have  an  understanding,  and 
all  that." 

"And  you  don't  know,  honest,  how  much  he's  wuth?" 

"Xo." 

"When  I  fust  heerd,"  said  Mr.  Chester,  crossing  his  legs,  and 
going  off  calmly  into  extraneous  reflections — "when  I  fust 
heerd  that  Pamelia  Staples  had  married  a  Flip,  I  calkilated  there 
was  one  chance  less  in  Canaan.  When  Bell  Tarbox  married 
out  o'  the  town,  it  weren't,  as  you  may  say,  treadin'  on  no  one's 
toes,  and  I  didn't  have  no  call  to  grumble.  But  if  Amaudy 
Stokes  was  to  marry  a  Gaycow  !  Well,  I  wouldn't  crowd  the 
mourners  no  further  than  to  say,  it  would  be  tight  papers  ;  but 
there  is  sech  a  thing  as  kerryin'  a  joke  too  fur." 

"What  do  you  wish  me  to  say  to  Mr.  Gifford?" 

"  I  don't  go  strong  for  vanity,  nor  yit  pomp ;  but  a  stylish 
gal  in  a  Murray  Ann  Tick,  behind  two  lofty  pelters  that  kin  go, 
let's  say,  to  the  inside  o'  three,  is  a  soarin'  sight!" 

"  Think, *'  proceeded  the  speaker,  finding  his  encomium  elicit 
ed  no  response,  "think  o'  them  pelters  drawin'  proudly  up  in 
front  of  the  Alhambry,  driv'  along  showy,  and  brought  up  all 


288  MARIAN   KOOKE  ;    OR, 

standin'.  A  nigger  appears,  and  bowin'  low,  throws  open  the 
palatial  hall.  Permiscuous  and  kind  o'  careless,  Gaycow  de 
scends;  Gaycow,  lord  of  every  shoe-peg  in  Perscpolis  ;  master 
of  the  hull  variety  trade  in  Canaan.  He  hands  down  the  lady 
of  his  ch'ice.  She  alights,  springy  and  easy,  a  rustlin',  a  shinin', 
and  a  cracklin' !  As  she  moves,  delicate  perfooms  float  upon 
the  air,  and  folks  travellin'  along — incloodin'  the  hull  female  popu 
lation  of  Canaan — bile  with  envy !  Another  minute  and  the 
portals  is  closed,  closed  agin  the  vulgar  herd: — for  only  Canaan's 
brightest  and  best  is  allowed  in  them  dazzlin'  halls.  Sech  would 
be  the  fate  of  her  who  weds  Alphonsy  ;  sech  the  lot  of  a  Mrs. 
Gaycow!" 

The  picture  was  truly  as  absurd  as  it  was  attractive  ;  but  Vir 
ginia  was  by  no  means  insensible  to  the  advantages  which  it  sug 
gested  rather  than  described.  It  could  not  be  denied  that  the 
young  trader  was  daily  gaining  in  wealth,  and  consequent  popu 
lar  estimation.  While  Gifford  appeared  to  have  retrograded,  the 
happy  speculator  in  shoe-pegs  and  varieties  had  steadily  advanced. 
His  wife  would  be  the  richest  woman  in  Canaan.  She  would  be 
known  like  Lady  Clifford  to  all  the  country  round.  Of  what 
avail  were  the  intellectual  qualities,  the  unproductive  talents  of 
Hugh,  when  weighed  against  the  dollars  of  his  rival  ? 

"  With  regard  to  Mr.  Gifford,  pa,"  she  said,  in  a  confused  maze 
of  thought. 

"  Oh !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Chester,  as  if  to  a  sudden  break  in  the 
thread  of  the  conversation,  and  drawing  the  lines  of  his  face 
closer  and  closer,  as  he  narrowly  eyed  his  daughter.  "  P'raps 
you'd  like  me  to  talk  to  him  a  spell  ?" 

She  knew  instinctively  what  this  meant.  It  was  tantamount 
— with  Gifford's  high  spirit,  and  her  father's  sordid  one — to  a 
conclusion  likely  to  be  a  final  one.  If  Mr.  Chester  did  not  eagerly 
accept  the  proposal  to  release  Virginia  from  her  promise,  he 
would  be  sure  to  annex  conditions  to  postponement,  such  as 
would  make  it  practically  equivalent  to  the  same  thing.  Was  it 
her  good  angel  which  now  pleaded  and  struggled  in  Virginia's 
bosom,  urging  her  to  say  aloud  :  "  No ;  the  one  man  I  can  love 
and  respect  ;  the  other,  never.  The  wealth  of  the  last  shall  not 
buy,  nor  the  poverty  of  the  first  dismay  me.  I  will  marry  where 
my  heart  can  go  with  my  hand,  and  take  the  chance  afterward 
for  fortune." 

Whether  or  no,  the  struggle  in  her  breast  was  a  fierce  one. 
There  was  much  in  the  girl  of  the  poetic,  much  that  was  capable 
of  a  higher  development  than  she  had  yet  been  able  to  attain  ; 
and  she  felt  that  inward  conviction  which  is  so  unerring,  that  such 


THE    QUEST     FOR    FORTL'XE.  289 

an  expansion,  such  an  elevation,  would  be  possible  were  she  mated 
with  one  of  these  men,  hopeless  for  ever  with  the  other.  There 
was  little  doubt  she  could  marry  the  trader  if  she  chose.  His  ad 
miration  for  her  beautiful  person  had  long  been  undisguised,  and 
was  indeed  a  common  topic  of  village  tattle.  Her  known  en 
gagement  had  truly  prevented  him  from  making  Virginia  an 
offer  ;  but  it  prevented  nothing  else.  It  had  not  precluded  fre 
quent  visits  since  he  first  came  to  board  in  her  father's  house  ; 
profuse  compliments,  offers  of  gifts,  which  she  had  happily  the 
grace  to  decline,  unmistakable  glances  at  church,  in  the  shop,  or 
in  the  highway.  Moreover,  old  John  Chester,  if  not  as  rich  as 
many,  was  known  to  be  thrifty,  and  his  son  was  a  rising  young 
man  ;  and  the  family  had  that  savor  of  respectability  which, 
even  among  the  plutocratic  descendants  of  the  Puritans,  long  res 
idence  and  a  fair  name  will  purchase  some  share  of ;  so  that,  all 
things  considered,  it  was  not  a  bad  match  even  for  the  rising 
Gaycow.  She  could  marry  him  if  she  chose,  but  in  doing  so 
what  did  she  resign  ? 

Virginia  hesitated ;  and  the  devil,  as  usual,  was  lying  in  wait 
for  his  opportunity.  For,  as  she  looked  through  the  open  win 
dow,  across  the  piazza,  through  the  warm,  smoky,  ah*,  over  the 
tinkling  rivulet,  to  the  high-road  on  the  other  side,  there  dashed 
by  the  sumptuous  equipage  so  much  extolled,  and  there — lean 
ing  back  in.  his  seat,  with  his  air  of  flippant  audacity,  chatting 
with  the  gorgeous  Amanda,  whose  black  eyes  and  glossy  hair 
were  set  off  by  her  purple  moire-antique — drove  the  prosperous 
Gaycow  in  all  the  bloom  of  youth  and  May  of  dollarhood.  Nor, 
as  the  vehicle  spun  gaily  by,  the  handsome  horses  displaying 
themselves  so  consciously  as  knowing  how  much  they  were  look 
ed  at  and  admired,  was  the  picture  in  all  its  details  uncompleted ; 
for,  plodding  slowly  behind,  his  rusty  black  clothes  well  dusted 
by  the  carriage  which  had  passed  him,  came  along  the  road — 
Hugh  Gifford.  His  head  was  bowed  as  if  in  deep  thought,  and 
he  paid  no  regard  to  anything  around  him.  Onward  he  trudged 
hi  the  track  of  the  now  distant  wheels,  until  a  clump  of  trees'in- 
tervened,  and  he,  too,  disappeared. 

"  I  suppose  you  had  better  speak  with  him,"  said  Virginia,  at 
last,  wearily. 

"That's  my  idee,"  returned  her  father,  unconscious  of  what 
she  had  seen,  but  quite  pleased  and  rather  surprised  by  her  un 
qualified  assent.  "  There's  many  things  a  man  don't  feel  a  call 
to  let  on  to  a  gal,  he'll  tell  to  her  authorized  gardcean.  I  don't 
want  ye  to  think,  Virginny,  that  I  want  to  coerce  ye  in  any  way. 

13 


290  MARIAN  EOOKE;   OR, 

The  mo'gage  havin'  waited  some  time,  kin  wait  a  spell  longer,  I 
s'pose  ;  and  if,  as  you  say,  he  agrees  to  fix  things  in  a  year " 

"  I  didn't  say  so,"  interrupted  the  girl,  impatiently  ;  "  he  said 
nothing  definite — nothing  on  the  subject." 

"Oh  !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Chester,  with  an  air  of  great  surprise, 
as  if  he  had  been  laboring  under  a  complete  misconception  about 
the  matter.  "  He  didn't  say  he'd  fix  the  mo'gage  in  a  year  ! 
Maybe,  then,  he  ain't  a  calkilating  to  fix  it  at  all  f 

"  I  don't  know  ;•  you  can  ask  him,  I  suppose." 

"  Fur  be  it  from  me  to  offer  to  interfere  with  your  feelings, 
Virginny  ;"  and  the  fond  father  celebrated  the  progress  of  his 
wishes  with  a  fresh  quid  ;  "  but  if  that  air  bargain  ain't  a  goin' 
to  be  kerried  out,  what  with  Gaycow  admirin'  you  to  kill,  and 
John  havin'  a  Murder,  and  everythink — I'll  put  it  to  ye,  now  ;  air 
folks  any  more  likely  to  rush  a  thing  through  in  one  year,  arter 
they've  tried  and  broke  down  a  tryin'  of  it  in,  two  ?" 

UT  don't  know;   perhaps  not." 

"And  I  don't  know,  neither,"  said  Mr.  Chester,  ironically; 
"but  I'll  ask,  and  then,  p'raps,  I'll  find  out." 

"Don't — don't  speak  to  him  too  much  about  that— not  at  first, 
pa  !"  said  Virginia,  painfully. 

"'Bout  what r 

"About  money." 

"Don't  be  afeard:  I'll  fetch  it  in  kind  o'  slantin',  so's  he'll 
tell  it  all  himself." 

And  he  did ;  at  least  he  received  that  night  from  Gifford  a 
clear  statement,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  by  no  means  prepared 
to  make  the  stipulated  advance,  and  that  he  quite  agreed  wit.h 
Mr.  Chester  in  the  opinion  that  such  a  defection  on  his  part, 
fairly  included  the  waiving  of  his  pretensions  to  the  hand  of  Vir 
ginia,  should  such  a  relinquishment  be  desired  by  the  lady  and 
her  family.  On  the  other  hand,  Hugh  expressed  a  sanguine  be 
lief  that  in  another  twelvemonth  he  would  be  able  to  compass 
the  difficulty,  and  his  readiness  to  bind  himself  to  such  a  com 
pact  at  the  option  of  the  other  contracting  parties.  To  this  lat 
ter  proposal  Mr.  Chester  lent  a  willing  ear.  A  bargain  which 
might  bring  profit,  and  could  not  possibly  bring  loss— a  contract 
which  imposed  conditions  on  one  side,  leaving  the  other  un 
shackled — was  to  him  especially  grateful,  when  to  him  was  the 
prospective  profit,  and  to  another  the  fettering  conditions. 

He  understood,  in  a  general  way,  that  Gifford  had  been  un 
lucky,  but  that  he  did  not  despond ;  that  he  held  Virginia  to  no 
promise,  but  was  willing,  in  view  of  unfulfilled  expectancies,  for  at 
least  a  year  longer  to  be  himself  so  pledged.  At  the  expiration 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  291 

of  that  time  the  Chesters  could  decide  whether  they  wonld  hold 
him  to  the  engagement  or  set  him  free.  It  seemed  a  rather 
one-sided  arrangement,  but  was  frankly  offered,  and  Mr.  Ches 
ter  was  not  the  man  to  let  any  ultra-chivalrous  compunctious 
stand  between  himself  and  the  light;  therefore,  so  far  as  he 
was  concerned,  it  received  his  hearty  approval  and  subscription. 

Virginia,  too,  when  this  was  formally  proposed  to  her,  although 
she  blushed  a  little,  and  her  woman's  instinct  did  not  fail  to  teach 
her  there  was  something  mean  about  it,  saw  many  advantages  of 
simplicity  and  directness  in  the  plan  which  commended  it  to 
the  baser  portions  of  her  nature  with  a  force  almost  impossible 
to  resist. 

The  struggle  was,  practically,  no  other  than  what  goes  on  with 
most  people  every  day :  on  one  side,  all  that  looks  most  flatter 
ing  to  ease,  vanity,  selfishness,  bedecking  a  road  broad  and  sim 
ple  to  follow ;  on  the  other,  whatever  is  most  uninviting  to  such 
passions,  but  also  something  which,  difficult  and  tortuous 
though  it  appear,  an  unerring  consciousness  for  ever  whispers 
is  the  better,  the  nobler,  the  permanently  enduring  path  wliich 
surely  will  repay  the  bitter  effort  which  shall  now  be  made  to 
follow  it. 

If  Virginia  could  have  made  her  election  aright,  she  would 
have  grown  into  a  noble  and  beautiful  woman.  She  was  at  a 
tide  which,  taken  at  the  flood,  would  have  led  her  to  no  less  glori 
ous  a  fortune.  But  she  was  weak,  and  she  temporized.  She 
thought  the  flood  would  return,  at  the  least,  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  times — a  long  stretch  to  look  ahead !  and  she  could 
judge  meanwhile  of  the  shoals  and  eddies  and  quicksands  which 
might  make  it  unwise  to  trust  it. 

When  the  agreement  had  been  made,  Gifford  appeared, 
strangely  enough,  to  think  that  it  was  not  sufficiently  binding 
upon  himself.  He  strove  to  impress  upon  Virginia  that,  while 
he  was  always  to  be  considered  as  firmly  pledged,  she  was  by  no 
means  to  let  that  consideration  fetter  her  own  wishes,  should  she 
at  any  time  wish  the  affair  at  an  end.  He  also  assured  her — and 
with  an  earnestness  which  betrayed  more  feeling  than  he  had  yet 
shown  since  his  return — that  he  felt  sure  of  being  within  the  year 
in  a  position  to  satisfy  all  the  conditions,  provided  she  were  un 
changed  and  agreed.  Was  it  the  conviction  that  his  own  con 
duct  had  not  been  so  ingenuous  as  it  should  have  been  that  in 
fused  this  feeling  into  his  manner,  on  the  last  evening  he  sat  with 
Virginia,  before  his  departure  from  the  village  ?  I  know  not. 
I  know  that  there  were  warm  tears  on  her  peach-like  cheek,  and 
that  he — for  the  Jfrrst  and  last  time — kissed  them  away.  I  know 


292  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

that  there  were  moments,  when  only  the  round  harvest  moon 
looked  down  upon  them,  that  both  Hugh  and  Virginia  were 
each  trembling  on  the  brink  of  foregoing  certain  cherished 
resolutions.  But  neither  did  so ;  and  the  next  day  the  village 
gossips  were  disconsolate,  and  the  old  life  went  on  uncheckered, 
for  the  shabby-looking  stranger  had  gone,  and  Canaan  saw 
bim  no  more. 


CHAPTER  IH. 

IT  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  confess  that  all  this  while  Hngh 
Gifford  was  a  very  rich  man.  How  far  he  was,  or  was  not,  jus 
tified  in  the  course  he  had  thought  fit  to  adopt,  is  a  matter 
wherein  casuists  are  likely  to  differ.  That  Virginia  gained  a 
right,  when  she  plighted  her  troth,  to  a  share  in  any  advantages 
her  betrothed  might  subsequently  acquire,  may  certainly  be 
maintained.  That  Gifford  had  a  right,  if  possible,  to  test  the 
sincerity  of  her  affection,  and  at  least  afford  himself  the  satisfac 
tion  of  knowing  that  her  feelings  were  not  solely  swayed  by  in 
terest,  may  perhaps  be  allowed.  On  the  whole,  scrupulous 
judges  may  be  disposed  to  declare  that  our  hero's  ruse  deserved 
censure.  But  I  cannot  forget  that  Hugh's  early  life,  and  the 
grovelling  spirits  which  surrounded  it,  had  fostered  the  quality 
of  suspicion  to  a  degree  which  was  really  foreign  to  his  nature ; 
and  I  feel  constrained  in  passing  judgment  on  any  criminal  to 
take  into  consideration  just  such  circumstances  as  these.  It  is 
in  vain  that  we  seek  to  apply  arbitrary  standards  to  measure  the 
amount  of  right  or  wrong  which  attaches  to  different  individuals 
for  the  same  act ;  in  vain,  at  least,  so  far  as  the  effort  is  expected 
to  teach  anything  serviceable,  excepting  the  divergence  which 
exists  between  human  justice  and  the  divine.  I  therefore  leave 
this  portion  of  Hugh's  life  to  such  mercy  as  it  may  get,  content 
ing  myself  with  describing  facts  and  their  fruits,  rather  than 
with  speculating  as  to  motives  and  their  morality. 

In  the  place  to  which  Ichabod  had  so  mysteriously  led  him, 
Gifford  found  a  vast  store  of  gold.  It  had  been  his  immediate 
desire  to  bring  the  company  of  Armstrong's  Bar  to  participate 
in  the  treasure  ;  but  this  Ike  stoutly  resisted,  reminding  Hugh 
of  his  promise  to  reveal  to  no  one  the  discovery  which  had  been 
made  without  the  consent  of  the  original  discoverer.  A  com- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  293 

promise  was  at  last  arranged,  to  the  effect  that  after  the  two 
should  have  obtained  a  certain  sum—placed  by  Ike  at  a  very 
high  figure — the  others  were  to  be  apprised  of  their  good  fortune, 
and  invited  to  share  it.  Without  dwelling  on  details,  it  will 
suffice  to  record  that  within  three  months  the  adventurers  man 
aged  to  extract,  and — a  far  more  difficult  task — to  convey  to  San 
Francisco  in  safety,  a  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
This  sum,  Ike  insisted,  was  Gifford's.  He  would  take  his  share 
of  what  might  afterwards  be  found,  as  one  of  the  company  ;  but 
the  first  cream  of  the  placer  he  positively  refused  to  touch.  It 
was  his  offering,  so  far  as  he  had  any  rights  in  it,  to  Hugh ;  and 
nothing  would  satisfy  him  but  its  unreserved  acceptance.  The 
former  knew  the  obstinacy  with  which  he  had  to  deal  too  well 
to  combat  it  openly.  He  therefore  resolved  to  lay  aside  a  round 
sum,  which,  come  what  might,  would  furnish  the  half-wit  with 
a  comfortable  life-long  provision,  and  for  the  present  to  let  the 
subject  drop. 

It  was  part  of  Ike's  scheme — and  he  exhibited  throughout  a 
degree  of  cunning  which  seemed  to  his  companion  quite  aston 
ishing — not  to  return  to  Armstrong's  Bar,  or  to  communicate 
with  its  inhabitants,  until  his  own  views  were  successfully  earned 
out.  They  could  contrive  to  get  food,  he  said,  from  other 
points,  by  striking  the  trail  leading  to  Downieville,  eighteen 
miles  to  the  west ;  they  could  find  means  to  send  back  the 
horses  to  their  owners  at  Yankee  Jim's,  and  could  arrange  for 
needful  supplies  to  come  by  the  same  route.  Money  would  buy 
all  they  wanted ;  and  it  was  better  to  take  any  amount  of  trouble 
— haul,  pack,  or  even  carry  their  supplies  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles,  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  having  their  treasure  dis 
covered  and  the  spot  overrun  before  they  had  gathered  its 
fruits. 

To  the  first  part  of  this  scheme  Gifford  demurred,  upon  the 
very  obvious  ground  that,  should  their  friends  at  the  Bar  hear 
nothing  of  them,  they  would  speedily  institute  researches,  and 
get  up  a  hue  and  cry  which  might  prove  more  fatal  to  then1  pro 
jects  than  anything  else  could  possibly  be.  It  was  finally  ar 
ranged  that  a  letter  should  be  forwarded  from  a  remote  point, 
which  should  assure  the  party  of  their  safety  and  speedy  return 
from  their  expedition,  which  was  described  as  an  experimental 
one  for  the  sake  of  prospecting ;  and  this  letter  could  be — as, 
indeed,  it  was — followed  up  from  time  to  time  by  others  in  a 
manner  to  forestall  anxiety  and  keep  matters  quiet  at  the  Bar. 

The  other  details  were  consummated  as  Ike  proposed ;  and 
although  the  plan  involved,  as  it  turned  out,  all  manner  of  pri- 


294  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

vations  and  difficulties,  yet  they  managed  to  preserve  health  and 
strength  sufficient  to  carrf  out  the  work,  and  that  with  a  speed 
which  only  those  who  have  known  what  it  is  to  dig  from  the 
earth  an  enormous  daily  tribute  of  gold  can  quite  appreciate. 

Midsummer  had  not  come,  before,  having  safely  lodged  their 
gold  in  the  vaults  of  a  banker,  who,  singular  to  relate,  had  never 
yet  stopped  payment,  Gifford  and  Ike  returned  to  their  won 
dering  friends ;  and,  having  told  as  much  of  their  adventures  as 
seemed  prudent  and  had  been  mutually  agreed  upon,  invited 
them  to  emigrate  to  what  they  had  christened  "Lion's  Dale "  (a 
name,  by  the  way,  which  I  am  glad  to  see  the  valley  still  re 
tains),  and,  in  their  turn,  to  amass  fortunes.  By  this  time  the 
scattered  bands  of  Indians  had  begun  to  retreat  as  usual  before 
the  advancing  pressure  of  swarming  whites,  and  there  was  little 
fear  now  of  an  interference  or  danger  which,  when  Ike  first 
made  his  discovery,  had  been  so  effectual  in  making  it  an  ex 
clusive  one. 

In  the  mean  time,  more  settlers  had  gathered  about  the  Bar, 
and  there  were  two  new  Humes  in  the  course  of  construction. 
Discoveries  had  been  made  in  other  places  near  by,  although  the 
gold  yield  at  Armstrong's  continued  scanty  ;  and  the  latter,  be 
ing  very  accessible  and  convenient  to  several  lines  of  travel,  was 
growing  in  importance  as  an  entrepot,  irrespective  of  any  value 
or  poverty  attributed  to  its  diggings.  A  post-office  was  regular 
ly  established  there,  and  Uncle  Seth  was  appointed  postmaster. 
The  buildings  were  improved,  and  the  long  coveted  wooden  roof 
over  the  principal  structure  took  the  place  of  the  "cotting"  one. 
There  was  every  indication  that  the  place  would  become  popu 
lous,  and  the  land,  consequently,  valuable. 

Under  these  circumstance,  it  was  resolved  that  Luke,  Dick 
Railes,  and  Ike,  together  with  the  Doctor,  should  form  a  party 
for  the  new  diggings,  retaining  the  old  home  as  a  base  of  sup 
plies,  and  leaving  Uncle  Seth  and  the  "women  folks"  to  keep 
possession  thereof;  and  this  sensible  arrangement  had  just  been 
carried  into  effect  at  the  time  Hugh  Grfford  sailed  for  New  York. 
As  for  Ike,  Hugh  would  willingly  have  taken  him  with  himself, 
but  Ike  promptly  rejected  the  proposal.  He  was  very  well  as  he 
was,  he  said  ;  and  certainly  there  did  not  appear  to  be  any  par 
ticular  advantage  in  his  removal  to  the  Atlantic  States.  Hugh 
had,  to  be  sure,  an  idea  that  the  poor  fellow's  "mental  condition 
might  possibly  be  improved  by  travel ;  or,  perchance,  by  medical 
advice  in  the  Old  World  if  not  in  the  New.  But  Dr.  Landale 
thought  he  saw  signs  of  improvement,  which  might  be  checked 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  295 

or  reversed  were  Ike  taken  from  his  present  haunts  and  pursuits, 
and  this  opinion  was  accepted  as  conclusive. 

Thus  it  was  that  Gifford  sailed  for  home  with  his  fortune,  quite 
alone.  He  had  his  gold  with  him,  but  otherwise  he  was  solitary. 
Long  habit  had  reconciled  him  to  the  companionship  of  even 
the  most  illiterate  and  unintellectual  of  the  people  at  the 
Bar.  To  separate,  even  from  poor  Lion,  he  now  found  gave 
him  a  pain  which  he 'had  rarely  known  in  parting  even  from  a 
human  being.  His  thoughts  ranged  back  over  the  many  event 
ful  scenes  they  had  all  seen  and  braved  together.  He  remembered 
with  vividness  a  hundred  pictures  of  the  Plains  ;  Castle  Arm 
strong,  with  its  quaint  ulterior,  the  colors  of  the  different  cattle 
who  drew  it,  the  very  clothes  various  members  of  the  party  wore. 
He  recalled  a  score  of  different  camp-fires  where  they  had  sat 
and  watched  and  smoked,  and  told  stories  and  adventures,  in 
the  fitful  light  of  the  spluttering  green  wood  as  it  blazed  and 
sparkled  on  the  gloom  around.  He  thought  of  the  first  time  he 
saw  the  friendly  chief,  Washashaco,  as  he  came  up  to  the  brow 
of  the  slope  and  warned  his  white  brethren  of  impending  danger  ; 
of  the  confidence  he  had  felt  in  the  warrior  from  the  outset,  and 
how  that  confidence  had  never  been  shaken  until  late  in  the  long, 
long  day  when  the  little  band  fought  so  overwhelming  an  array  of 
savages  ;  when  poor  Xahum  Pelter  had  fallen,  as  it  Avere,  in  the 
very  moment  of  safety  and  victory,  and  the  swarthy  chieftain,  like 
an  avenging  fury,  followed  by  his  red  troop  of  whooping  demons, 
had  bounded  into  their  midst  to  turn  the  scale  of  battle.  But 
from  all  these  memories,  and  many  more  which  were  akin  to 
them,  Gifford's  thoughts  always  came  back  to  fix  upon  one  ob 
ject — the  green  oasis  in  his  dreary,  dusty  march  of  life — the 
music  which  had  made  tolerable  the  dull,  monotonous  clangor 
of  commonplace  sounds  and  vulgar  voices — the  poetry  which, 
from  childhood,  he  had  dreamed  of  and  yearned  for,  but  never 
before  in  good  faith  believed  to  exist — to  the  memory  of 
Marian. 

And,  as  often  as  he  came  back  to  this  thought,  he  found 
another  standing,  as  it  were,  by  its  side,  and  warning  him,  with 
an  emphasis  he  could  not  soften,  of  the  great  need  there  was 
that  he  should  regard  his  own  honor  as  well  as  Marian's  memory, 
and  do  nothing  that  should  cloud  either  in  his  treatment  of 
Virginia. 

He  was  rich  now,  and  there  was  no  obstacle  to  their  happy 
union;  why  .then  should  he  shudder  at  such  a  reflection?  It 
really  seemed  that  the  path  of  duty  lay  straight  before  him,  and 
that  the  path  of  duty  should  also  be  that  of  happiness ;  but,  alas  ! 


296  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

it  was  not  so.  Loyal  as  Marian  had  ever  been,  she  had  most 
unwittingly,  partly  by  the  effect  of  continual  contrast,  partly  by 
a  certain  way  she  had  of  suggesting  analysis  of  character,  led 
Hugh  to  a  sharp  and  painful  perception  of  the  unlovely  faults  of 
Virginia's  nature.  At  the  same  time,  the  latter  had  unfortunate 
ly  been  yielding  more  and  more  to  the  influences  which  tended 
to  increase  those  faults,  and  the  retrogression  was  only  too  obvi 
ously  reflected  in  her  letters. 

On  the  passage  home,  then,  Gifford,  in  a  blurred  and  bewil 
dered  sort  of  way,  had  sketched  out  for  himself  a  plan  of  oper 
ations  which  were  intended,  as  we  have  seen,  to  test  the  reality 
and  the  steadfastness  of  Virgina's  affection.  He  determined  to 
afford  her  every  possible  opportunity  to  hold  him  to  his  engage 
ment — every  possible  incentive,  save  the  single  one  of  knowing 
his  altered  circumstances.  If  she  would  not  adhere  to  his  for 
tunes  as  a  poor  man,  Hugh  thought  he  might  fairly  escape  from 
the  tie  as  a  rich  one.  There  was  certainly  no  particular  origi 
nality  about  the  idea  ;  but  it  was  eminently  practical,  since  scarce 
ly  any  one  in  the  world  could  possibly  betray  him,  and  it  also 
had  the  merit  of  extreme  simplicity.  Straightway,  on  his  arrival, 
he  commenced  to  reduce  it  to  practice  ;  and  having  thus  wasted 
no  time  in  attending  to  what  he  could  not  avoid  regarding  as  an 
honorable  obligation,  he  now  thought,  with  a  strange  notion  of 
having  earned  some  compensation  floating  in  his  mind,  that  he 
had  a  right  to  try  and  find  Marian. 

Hugh  had  no  inclination  to  seek  out  any  of  his  relations.  None 
of  them,  as  he  well  knew,  would  care  a  straw  to  see  him  unless  he 
came  with  a  fortified  assurance  that  he  was  well  to  do  in  the 
world,  and  such  information  would  be  likely  to  defeat  his  plans, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  its  being  essential  to  a  welcome, 
very  naturally  made  him  indifferent  to  those  who  would  exact  it. 
And  yet,  although  his  kinsmen  were  otherwise  hard  and  base- 
minded  men,  in  this  particular  respect  they  differed  not  from 
most  New  Englanders  around  them.  It  is  inevitable  that  an  ex 
aggerated  value  should  attach  to  wealth  where  no  other  title  or 
passport  to  reverence  and  consideration  is  acknowledged.  The 
sordid  tone  which  pervades  much  American  society  has  its  origin 
not  in  the  fact  that  people  are  born  more  selfish  and  grasping 
there  than  elsewhere,  but  because  they  are  taught  from  their 
youth  up  that  gold  is  the  only  good,  and  find  that  democracy  has 
done  too  much  to  establish  the  maxim.  There  is  no  way  to 
reason  this  evil  out  of  existence,  any  more  than  to  make  water 
run  up  hill,  save  by  reversing  political  conditions  or  the  laws  of 
gravity.  The  systems  of  man  are  for  ever  imperfect,  and  it  is  by 


TIIE   QUEST   FOR   FORTUNE.  207 

no  means  certain   that  because  there  are  evils  in   oligarchy  a 
sweeping  plutocracy  is  altogether  free  of  them. 

One  thing  at  least  is  certain,  which  is,  that  to  dig  their  heads 
like  ostriche  into  bushes  of  brag,  and  to  diligently  ostracize  those 
who  dare  to  tell  them  the  truth,  is  not  the  way  for  my  country 
men  to  purge  their  system  of  its  ills,  and  make  what  they  would 
have  a  model  worthy  of  universal  imitation.  A  nation  is  in  as 
bad  a  way  as  a  man  is  when  it  cannot  endure  to  be  told  of  its 
faults  ;  and  because  some  people  have  exaggerated,  or  misrepre 
sented  those  faults  in  times  past,  is  no  reason  why  they  should  be 
stoutly  maintained  to  be  virtues  for  all  time  to  come.  But  having 
been  abused  for  digression  before  now,  as  well  as  for  unfair  strict 
ures  on  national  manners,  let  me  be  wary  and  return  to  my 
hero. 

He  turned  his  back,  then,  on  Boston  almost  as  soon  as  he 
showed  his  face  there.  The  best  society,  mutual  admiration  or 
other,  the  guarded  amusements,  the  secluded  homes  of  the  better 
classes  where  was  breathed  a  strange  atmosphere,  compounded 
in  equal  portions  the  Puritan  and  the  Sybarite,  the  hearty 
greeting  of  condiscipuli,  even  at  the  neighbor  Alma  Mater  he  once 
had  loved — all  these  were  forbidden  joys  to  one  who,  like  Gifforcl, 
had  committed  two  capital  sins  ;  he  had  gone  away  from  their 
midst,  and  he  had  come  back  poor.  Rarely  does  Boston  forgive 
the  first  crime  ;  the  second,  never. 

Hugh  did,  indeed,  go  to  see  his  old  friend  and  fellow  student, 
John  Chester  ;  and  John  Chester  proved  an  exception  to  the  gen 
eral  rule,  for  he  shook  the  wanderer  warmly  by  the  hand,  and 
was  glad  to  see  him,  notwithstanding  he  came  back  poor,  and 
notwithstanding  he  himself  had  a  Murder.  Still,  Hugh  saw,  or 
fancied  he  saw,  something  a  little  stiff  and  frightened  in  John's 
manner — something  a  little  furtive  and  watchful,  as  if  somebody 
might  witness  perchance  this  anomalous  cordiality  to  one  who 
had  gone  away  and  come  back  poor ;  something  which  seemed 
to  indicate  that  such  cordiality  besides  being  "  outre"  and  un 
usual,  had  also  a  customary  penalty  attached,  which  John  would 
like  to  evade.  Perhaps  Hugh  was  mistaken ;  very  reserved  mon 
are  especially  apt  to  notice  little  frigidities  or  acerbities  of  man 
ner  in  others ;  but  he  could  not  help  thinking  that  if  his  ostensi 
ble  poverty  were  to  continue  until  John  got  two  or  three  more 
Murders,  he  would  be  less  welcome  even  than  he  was  at 
present. 

John  heard  the  statement  of  Gifford's  arrangement  v-ith  his 
sister  with  a  puzzled  air,  and  seemed  twice  or  thrice  to  be  upon 
the  point  of  saying  something  which  again  caution  restrained. 
13* 


298  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

The  truth  was,  John  felt  heartily  ashamed  of  the  air  of  meanness 
which  appeared  in  the  whole  matter,  and*  thought  his  friend  badly 
treated  ;  but  he  did  not  quite  like  to  say  so.  He  feared  Hugh 
was  of  too  speculative  and  discursive  a  turn  to  prosper,  and  con 
ceived  that  any  incentive  which  was  likely  to  combat  or  neutral 
ize  such  a 'predisposition  would  have  a  good  effect.  I  am  afraid, 
too,  that  Boston  was  saturating  John  over-much  with  those  views 
of  expediency  and  "  getting  ahead  "  in  life,  which  in  his  more 
callow  years  he  had  made  bold  to  despise  in  his  sagacious  father. 
It  is  a  hard  thing  to  live  always  at  l^ome,  and  yet  not  feel  and 
think,  not  less  than  do,  even  as  the  Romans. 

"  What  d'ye  mean  to  do?"  he  asked, incidentally,  before  they 
parted.  "Of  course  you  have  some  plans  for  making  money. 
What  are  they  ?" 

"To  tell  the  truth,  I  have  not  made  up  my  mind,"  prevari 
cated  Hugh. 

"  Time  you  had,  I  should  think.  Folks  here  are  terribly  hard 
on  what  they  think  an  aimless  or  discursive  sort  of  life.  You 
tried  law  in  California  ?" 

"No  ;  the  country  was  overrun  with  lawyers.  Besides,  after 
all,  you  know,  I  was  making  a  living  in  the  mines." 

"  Come  now,"  said  John,  with  interest,  "  could  you  make  fifty 
dollars  a  week  ?" 

"  Not  all  the  time,  perhaps  ;  during  most  of  it,  yes." 

"  Could  you  make  forty  dollars  a  week  the  year  round1?" 

"I  believe  we  averaged  as  well  as  that." 

"Thunder  !  What  did  you  come  away  for  f ' 

"  Why,  John.  I — I  was  rather  weary  of  mining  ;  it  wasn't  so 
.very  congenial,  you  may  suppose  ;  and  there  are  other  things  to 
think  of  in  the  world  besides  making  money,  you  know,  John." 

"  Oh  !  ah  !  yes,"  admitted  John,  doubtfully  ;  "at  least  I  used 
to  think  so.  But  youthful  dreams  are  one  thing  and  the  busi 
ness  of  life  is  another.  We're  all  business  men  here,  Gifford." 

"  I  suppose  so ;  and  each  thinks  only  of  what  will  advance  his 
own  business,"  said  Hugh,  with  some  bitterness.  "  They  are 
business  men  in  Canaan,  who  only  keep  that  eye  open  which 
looks  towards  profit ;  and  this  place  is  only  a  bigger  Canaan.  I 
was  walking  down  School  Street  just  now,  and  I  saw  a  man  ap 
proaching  whom  my  poor  father's  brain  and  industry  made  rich  ; 
for  he  made  others  rich  if  he  did  not  make  himself  so.  Well, 
this  man's  instinct  or  some  gossiping  tongue  had  taught  him  that 
I  had  not  been  over  successful,  I  suppose ;  at  any  rate  his  eye  of 
profit  couldn't  see  me,  and  he  crossed  over  and  passed  by  on  the 
other  side." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  299 

"  Ah,  you  mean  Scumble'?" 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  he  has  got  on  immensely  of  late  years.  He's  uncom 
monly  smart,  Scumble  is.  You're  quite  right,  he's  a  first-rate 
business  man." 

Yes ;  even  John  Chester  was  infected  by  the  atmosphere  he 
breathed.  He  might  have  substantially  the  same  nature  still, 
but  it  was  so  crusted  over  by  the  oxidization  of  the  prevailing 
gold- worship  that  but  little  of  its  old  true  metal  could  be  seen 
below.  Gifford  sighed  as  he  thought  that  even  this  one  true 
friend,  whose  staunchness  he  had  counted  on,  had  become,  if  not 
alienated,  at  least  somewhat  cooled  towards  him.  There  are 
some  places  in  the  world  whose  absent  ones  are  more  wrong 
than  those  of  any  other  spot  beside ;  and  Boston  is  not  the  least 
conspicuous  of  them.  Hugh  had  not  the  least  idea  that  he  had 
committed  any  crime  during  his  Pacific  sojourn;  but  he  was 
convinced  that,  had  he  done  so,  and  the  noise  of  it  been  bruited, 
the  people  he  met  could  scarcely  have  regarded  him  with  more 
coldness  and  suspicion.  He  could  not  make  it  out ;  at  least  he 
only  partly  saw  the  truth.  He  was  not  yet  quite  experienced 
enough  to  know  that  if  his  townsmen  had  been  aware  of  the  ex 
istence  of  that  gold  heap  of  his,  they  would  have  roared  them 
selves  hoarse  with  welcome — have  strewn  flowers  in  his  path — 
have  chanted  his  praise  from  the  very  house-tops — have  converted 
his  doleful  visit  into. a  gorgeous  triumph.  He  guessed  enough, 
however,  to  supply  him  with  a  plentiful  stock  of  bitterness,  and 
to  rejoice  when  the  old  dome  of  the  State  House  faded  from  his 
view,  and  he  could  shake  the  dust  of  Boston  from  his  feet. 

It  was  agreed  that  John  should  write  to  Gifford,  to  a  certain 
address  in  New  York,  if  anything -occurred  at  Canaan  which 
would  be  interesting  to  relate  ;  Hugh  being,  as  he  professed, 
unsettled  as  to  whither  he  should  bend  his  steps,  but  intending 
to  arrange  that  all  letters  should  safely  follow  wherever  he  might 
determine  to  go.  With  this  understanding  our  hero  repaired  at 
once  to  New  York,  and  betook  himself  to  the  task  of  discover 
ing  Marian. 

His  means  for  performing  this  task  were  of  the  simplest ;  con 
sisting,  as  they  did,  of  nothing  more  than  the  name  of  Mr.  Riv- 
ingstone's  agent.  To  find  him  was  only  the  work  of  an  hour 
after  arriving  in  the  metropolis,  but  the  information  he  could 
afford  was  of  the  most  meagre  description.  Miss  Rooke  had 
been  met  by  Mr.  Rivingstone  on  her  arrival  from  San  Francisco ; 
she  had  remained  in  town  while  he  had  gone  South  for  a  three 
months'  tour;  in  the  meantime  his  sister  had  joined  Miss  Rooke, 


300  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

and  the  two  had  awaited  his  return.  He  came  back  in  June, 
and  the  whole  party  had  sailed  directly  afterwards  for  Europe. 
Of  their  present  address  he  knew  nothing,  and  could  only  refer 
to  a  banker  in  London.  With  this  knowledge  Hugh  was  per 
force  content,  and,  indeed,  any  other  would  have  been  of  little 
use,  since  he  was  resolved  to  get  it  for  himself,  and  at  closer 
quarters ;  nor  was  he  long  in  putting  his  resolution  into  force, 
for  within  a  week  he  was  again  on  shipboard,  again  breasting 
old  ocean's  billows ;  but  this  time  in  what  was  for  him  an  un 
tried  direction,  for  he  was  leaving  his  native  land  behind  him, 
and  his  prow  was  turned  eastward. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

"THE  question  is,  Who  can  he  be?" 

"Yes,  mamma,  and  echo  answers,  'Who?'" 

"He  couldn't  be,  for  example,  an  English  nobleman  in  dis 
guise  ?" 

"Not  he.  No  man  born  at  once  rich  and  titled,  ever  has 
those  premature  lines — those  souvenirs  of-  anxiety  in  his  face. 
The  body  may  acquire  ease,  the  bearing,  grace,  and  no  vestige 
remain  of  what  they  supersede — but  not  the  countenance.  The 
jnk  used  there  is  indelible,  and  never  washes  out." 

''  You  conceive  then  that  he  is •" 

'*  Un  nouveau  riche?  Quite  so;  but  he  may  be  a  gentleman 
for  all  that." 

*'  A  gentleman  !  I  should  think  so,  indeed.  Clinton  would 
scarcely  write  as  he  did  about  a  man  who  was  not.  And  yet  the 
puzzle  is,  that  he  writes  precisely  as  if  he  knew  nothing  of  Mr. 
Gifford's  antecedents." 

"  My  brother  is  certainly  never  too  ready  to  take  people  on 
trust.  An  American,  abroad,  too!  It's  very  odd." 

"  You  would  say  now,"  pursued  the  elder  lady,  who  was 
doing  something,  with  snowy  fingers,  to  a  maze  of  crimson  silk, 
"that  fye  could  not  be  a  retired  trader?" 

"Impossible,  dear  mamma.  Consider  the  man's  air — his 
manner  of  speaking.  Besides— rmore  crucial  test — there's  no 
prest  emblazoned  on  his  carriage." 

"  True,  true.     And  the  carriage  itself— quite  a  miracle  of 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  301 

plainness.     No ;  I  think  you're  right,  Edith.     But  if  not  a  suc 
cessful  merchant,  it's  clear  he's  no  politician." 

"  Heavens,  no  !  Clinton  would  never  have  given  letters  to  a 
politician ;  whatever  his  faults,  my  brother  would  never  dream 
of  introducing  a  politician  into  the  family  of  the  Parapets  1" 

"  Unless  sinning  through  ignorance,  perhaps " 

"  Ignorance  !  surely  then-  odious  names  are  familiar  enough. 
TQ  be  sure,  we  don't  read  the  detestable  newspapers,  their  organs, 
but  the  men  do;  and  I'm  confident  either  papa  or  Clinton 
would  know  if  Mr.  Gifford  had  been  compromised  in  politics." 

They  were  absurdly  alike— mother  and  daughter — with  tall 
figures,  delicate  aquiline  noses,  brows  exhibiting  just  a  soupcon 
of  the  supercilious,  irreproachable  complexions,  dainty  hands  and 
feet,  and  undeniably  aristocratic  bearings  generally.  There  was 
not  the  difference  which  is  legitimate  between  five-and-twenty 
and  five-and-forty ;  not  because  the  daughter  looked  old,  but 
because  the  mother  looked  young — two  things  which  by  com 
mon  consent  are  voted  impossible  in  America,  but  which  occa 
sionally  contrive  to  be  true,  notwithstanding.  It  is  very  odd, 
by  the  way,  how  often  exceptions  will  insist  on  crossing  one's 
path  to  give  the  lie  to  accepted  theories.  Perhaps  when  a  man 
has  known  many  a  skinny  Englishwoman,  and  many  a  stout 
American — many  a  Briton  who  didn't  drink  beer,  and  many  a 
Yankee  who  didn't  boast — many  a  Bull  who  was  cosmopolite, 
and  many  a  Jonathan  who  was  not  provincial — many  a  German 
who  was  airy  and  mercurial,  and  many  a  Frenchman  who  would 
not  eat  frogs  ;  I  say,  when  one  can  truly  cite  such  an  experi 
ence,  he  may  be  permitted,  perhaps,  to  disregard  the  general 
rule,  and,  like  an  ingenious  lawyer,  to  insist  on  urging  a  numer 
ous  family  of  exceptions. 

At  all  events,  these  two  ladies  were  of  or  among  them.  They 
were  unimpeachably  well  dressed,  and,  beyond  all  cavil,  they 
were  well  bred.  They  did  not  shriek  like  peacocks,  nor  load 
themselves  with  diamonds  at  their  breakfast  table.  Their  speech 
betrayed  no  nasal  twang ;  they  did  not  "  conclude,"  "  calculate," 
or  "  guess ;"  they  did  not  " admire"  things  to  eat,  call  their  ser 
vants  "  helps,"  or  commit  any  other  kindred  abomination.  *  The 
•worst  that  could  be  said  of  them  was  that,  ignoring  their  own 
utility  as  shining  lights — a  grave  remissness  indeed  in  a  com 
munity  most  of  whose  members  are  for  ever  groping  after 
standards  and  seldom  finding  them — they  would  insist  on  getting 
perpetually  under  bushels,  so  that  the  world  declared  that  light 
there  was  none. 

"Politics  and  the  Parapets,"   continued  the  younger  lady, 


302  MARIAN   ROOKE  J    OR, 

philosophically,  "are  like  oil  and  vinegar;  they  never  mingle 
save  at  a  great  crisis,  and  only  then  on  much  persuasion.  No 
such  occasion  exists  now,  as  brother  Clinton  well  knows." 

"  There  remain  the  professions,"  said  Mrs.  Parapet,  following 
the  more  particular  thread  of  the  discourse.  '  *  Our  new  acquaint 
ance  may  be  a  lawyer,  an  officer,  a  physician,  or  even  a  clergy 
man." 

"Each  and  all  incompatible  with  his  movements.  A  man 
whom  nobody,  except  Clinton,  knows,  comes  into  a  fashionable 
square,  buys  a  handsome  house  of  brown  stone,  furnishes  it  in 
exquisite  taste ;  sets  up  his  carriage,  is  introduced  by  us  into 
our  set,  goes  to  two  or  three  parties,  makes  the  proper  calls, 
appears  half  a  dozen  times  »at  the  opera,  and  then  when  every 
one  expects  him  to  settle  quietly  in  his  new  home,  and  perhaps 
set  about  selecting  its  mistress,  he  startsbfflike  a  madman  or  an 
express  agent,  and  is  heard  of  one  week  at  Niagara,  the  next  at 
St.  Louis,  the  next  at  New  Orleans,  the  fourth  at  Havana,  the 
fifth  is  at  home  again,  and  on  papa  calling  at  the  beginning  of 
the  sixth  he  is  told  that  Mr.  Gifford  left  for  Montreal  the  night 
before.  These  are  eccentricities  hardly  consistent  with  the  pur 
suit  of  a  profession.  Besides,  Clinton  met  him  travelling  quite 
in  a  similar  way ;  he  seems  to  have  frisked  through  Europe  very 
much  in  the  same  odd  fashion  he  adopts  here." 

"Perhaps,"'  observed  Mrs.  Parapet,  hunting  vaguely  about  for 
a  suggestion,  "perhaps  he  is  the  agent  for  some  great  European 
company." 

"No,"  replied  her  daughter,  decisively,  "there  is  not  a  trace 
of  anything  commercial  about  him." 

"  The  secret  emissary  of  some  foreign  government,  perhaps," 
again  hazarded  the  mother,  ingeniously. 

"There  is  something  reserved  and  thoughtful  in  his  manner; 
but  then,  you  know,  he  said  he  had  only  been  in  Europe  for  a 
year.  Besides,  he's  too  young  for  a  post  of  that  sort." 

"An  author,  possibly." 

"An  author  with  a  carriage  in  this  country  ?"  said  Edith,  scorn 
fully.  "  Not  in  our  generation,  I  fear.  And  who  ever  heard  of 
any  scribbling  Gilford?  There  has  been  none  such  since  the 
Reviewer." 

"  Well,  my  love,  we  are  simply  reduced  to  consider  him  a  well 
educated  and  rather  clever  young  man,  to  whom  somebody  has 
been  good  enough  to  leave  a  fortune.  We  are  on  sure  ground 
here,  and  if  the  foothold  is  narrow  it  is  certain  to  be  safe." 

"Ah,  mamma,  but  that's  just  it.  Clinton  wrote  me  that  liis 
friend,  although  in  general  very  uncommunicative  about  his 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  303 

former  life,  had  yet  told  him  that  his  family  were  poor— only 
able  to  educate  him  by  making  sacrifices — and  that  he  had  not  a 
relative  or  connection  on  earth  who  would  serve  him  to  the  ex 
tent  of  a  dollar,  or  whose  help  he  would  not  despise  if  it  were 
offered.*1 

' '  In  that  case,  dear  Edith,  I  confess  myself  completely  at  a 
loss,  and  our  mysterious  acquaintance  may  be  the  Wandering 
Jew  for  aught  I  can  surmise  to  the  contrary." 

"  He  may  have  done  something  somewhere,"  said  Miss  Para 
pet,  thoughtfully,  "to  get  all  this  money  ;  but  your  clever  rascals 
always  have  something  flashy — something  you  are  called  on  to 
illustrate  with  notes  of  admiration — about  them ;  and  he  has 
absolutely  nothing  of  the  kind." 

"  So  that  you  give  up  the  enigma,  Edith,  my  love,  with  all 
your  cleverness,  and  confess  yourself  nonplussed  as  well  as 
mamma  ?" 

It  was  rather  hard  to  make  Gifford  out.  Not  but  that  there 
were  plenty  of  gold-laden  Californians  in  Xew  York  as  well  as 
he  ;  but  they  were  mostly  of  the  tinker  and  tailor  class,  who 
made  no  secret  of  their  wealth,  or  the  mode  of  its  acquisition  ; 
and  whose  origin  and  calibre  it  required  no  confidence  on  their 
part  to  explain.  They  were  also  well  known  to  each  other,  so 
that,  if  any  particular  tongue  were  silent,  all  the  rest  wagged 
sufliciently  to  make  its  reticent  master's  affairs  no  mystery.  As 
we  have  seen,  Gifford  was  an  exception  to  this  rule.  There  was 
no  'longshoreman,  cab-driver,  jack-tar,  tinker  or  tailor,  faro- 
banker,  or  wholesale  swindler  among  the  begemmed  and  gor 
geous  crew  at  the  Cosmopolitan  Hotel,  who  could  tell  whence 
Gifford' s  resources  were  drawn,  even  if  any  of  them  might  per 
chance  have  known  his  face.  Even  if  that  prince  of  bold  oper 
ators,  the  redoubted  Pangburn,  himself  had  turned  up,  he  could 
only  have  explained  how  Hugh  had  lost  a  small  fortune — not 
how  he  had  found  a  large  one.  Indeed  there  were  none  living 
excepting  Ike*  and  Lion,  both  of  whom  were  equally  unlikely  to 
appear  in  Parapetian  society,  who  could  give  the  smallest  light 
on  the  subject.  Thus  that  ram  avis  anywhere,  the  spectacle  of  a 
man  who,  having  come  suddenly  into  the  possession  of  money,  has 
yet  some  distant  notion  of  how  to  spend  it,  was  not  likely  to  be 
elucidated  so  far  as  the  history  of  Gifford  was  concerned,  unless 
he  himself  chose  to  tell  his  own  story. 

"  He's  certainly  handsome,"  remarked  Mrs.  Parapet  as  a  pen 
dant  to  a  knot  in  her  silken  mystery. 

"  I  call  him  distinguished  looking  rather  than  handsome ; 
scarcely  tall  enough  to  be  a  fine  man,  but  with  a  great  number  of 


304  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

good  points.     No  man  without  decent  blood  in  his  veins  has 
precisely  those  points — in  America,  or  out  of  it." 

"There  are  a -great  many  eligible  girls  just  out,"  proceeded 
the  mamma ;  ' '  he  could  hardly  have  come  at  a  more  promising 
season.  Of  course  none  of  the  old  families  could  think  of  a  man 
so  utterly  unknown.  But  there  are  plenty  in  the  next  grade — 
the  ball  and  dinner-party  set — who  are  all  before  him  where  to 
choose.  There  is  Clara  Vyse,  the  great  counsellor's  daugh 
ter " 

"Dear  mamma,  she's  so  dreadfully  common!  and  she  bridles 
and  squeaks  like  a  peacock !" 

"  There's  Julia  Cranstoun,  with  a  nice  fortune  and " 

"  The  face  of  a  cook,  and  the  manners  of  a  nursery  govern 
ess." 

"Isabel  Pinckney,  I'm  sure,  is  a  very  good  match." 

"  A  scrawny  creature  like  that,  half  deaf,  and  at  least  six-and- 
thirty!" 

"  And  Emily  Bishop  has  both  beauty  and  money." 

"  An  incorrigible  Yankee,  who  snivels  like  Mawworm,  and 
fills  the  room  with  an  atmosphere  of  pork-and-beans  and  pump 
kin  pie!" 

'•My  dear  Edith!" 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  mamma,  I'm  sure,  for  disparaging  your 
favorites,  but  you  really  seem  to  forget  that  Mr.  Gifford  is  not 
only  a  man  of  keen  perception,  but  also  one  who  is  uncommonly 
fastidious,  and  the  specimens  you  select  are  curiously  obnoxious 
to  criticism." 

Mrs.  Parapet  raised  her  eyes  for  an  instant,  and  then  dropped 
them  again  upon  her  crimson  silk  ;  she  had  seen  the  faintest  of 
flushes  on  her  daughter's  aristocratic  cheek  ;  rather  an  odd  thing, 
she  thought,  for  a  young  lady  whose  fashionable  imperturbability 
was  carried,  in  general,  almost  to  excess. 

"  The  old  families  are  out  of  the  question,"  she  repeated,  half 
interrogatively,  by  way  of  experiment. 

"Distinctly!"  answered  Edith,  with  emphasis.  "But  there 
are  some  young  women  not  altogether  hideous,  unpresentable, 
and  passecs  among  the  new.  And,  since  Mr.  Gifford  is  in  a  man- 
mer  consigned  to  us,  we  may  fairly  wish  him  success  in  the  least 
objectionable  category." 

"  C/iacun  d  son  gout.  The  taste  of  men  and  women  in  such 
matters  I  have  commonly  found  to  be  at  variance.  Your  own 
would  be  thought  unimpeachable,  my  love,  in  every  respect  save 
that  of  female  charms  ;  and  even  in  those,  Mr.  Gifford  and  your- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  305 

self  may  agree.  Should  he  return  in  time  for  the  Egremont 
Ball,  the  point  may  be  fairly  put  to  the  test." 

"  We  go  to  the  Egremonts,  then  ?" 

"  I  think,  upon  the  whole,  yes.  It  doesn't  involve  visiting, 
you  know,  and  is  perfectly  understood  as  not  to  be  taken  advan 
tage  of.  To  be  sure  they  can  never  be  of  our  set  by  any  possi 
bility,  so  the  risk  is  but  slight.  Their  balls  are  showy,  fashion 
able,  and  amusing,  if  not  of  the  best  ton ;  and  if  one  meets  a 
rather  promiscuous  assemblage,  'tis  only  once  a  year,  and  you 
never  know  them  again.  Your  papa  thinks  it  well  to  patronize 
the  Egremonts." 

"To  this  extent — no  more?" 

; '  Precisely.  And,  as  I  observed,  Mr.  Gifford  may,  if  he  re 
turns  in  time,  give  you  the  opportunity  of  comparing  notes  with 
him  on  the  particular  question  at  issue.  The  Egremonts  always 
muster  pretty  girls  in  shoals." 

"The  daughters  of  Israel  largely  included." 

"  Que  voulez  vous  ?  A  man  who  has  a  people  and  a  vocation 
cannot  put  both  to  the  wall  at  his  seasons  of  festivity.  Every 
thing  considered,  they  are  most  inoffensive,  and  so  long  as  they 
continue  as  unobtrusive  as  they  have  hitherto  been,  I  for  one  will 
help  them  out  once  a  year  with  all  the  pleasure  imaginable." 

This  conversation  took  place  in  a  veiy  tasteful  boudoir  in  a 
very  roomy  mansion  in  the  most  exclusive,  although  not  the  most 
modern,  fashionable  quarter  of  New  York.  The  mansion  was 
not  built  of  pretentious  brown  strone,  now  so  generally  used  to 
make  showy  facades,  and  too  often  facades  only,  for  the  houses 
of  the  new  rich  in  that  remarkable  city,  but  of  solid,  sombre  old 
gray  granite,  and  dingy  red  bricks.  It  was  not  propped  on  either 
side  by  a  companion  precisely  like  itself,  as  from  a  sometimes  not 
unreasonable  precaution  lest  it  should  fall,  but  stood  in  its  own 
grounds,  which  were  large  enough  to  contain  a  whole  block  of 
such  parvenu  fabrics,  and  was  shaded  by  vast  elms,  which  threw 
their  protecting  arms  far  above  even  its  own  lofty  gables.  This 
was  the  town-house  of  the  Parapets,  and  had  been  such  for  many 
a  year  before  any  who  now  bore  the  name  had  seen  the  light. 
Here  they  came  regularly  at  the  last  of  October,  and  remained 
until  the  following  first  of  June.  The  interval  was  passed  at  a 
still  roomier  and  still  older,  and  still  more  patrician-looking  house 
on  the  Hudson,  near  Haverstraw  ;  the  exceptions  to  either  so 
journ  being  when  any  of  the  family  were  in  Europe,  or  saw  fit, 
at  cautious  periods,  to  show  themselves  for  a  few  days  at  New 
port  or  Saratoga. 

Enough  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  colloquy  to  describe  at 


306  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

least  a  part  of  Hugh  Gifford's  career  during  the  first  twelvemonth 
of  his  newly-gained  riches.  He  had  passed  a  year  in  Europe, 
had  returned  to  his  native  country,  had  purchased  and  furnished 
a  house  in  New  York,  and  set  up  an  establishment,  with  the  ap 
parent  design  of  settling  regularly  in  that  metropolis  ;  had  no 
sooner  made  these  arrangements  than  he  had  dashed  off  on  a 
swift  tour  through  the  American  States, .had  returned,  and  at  the 
present  time  had  once  more  left  his  new  home  and  betaken  him 
self  to  Canada. 

We  shall  have  occasion  anon  to  go  further  than  to  merely  trace 
the  outline  of  these  erratic  movements,  by  filling  in  their  explan 
atory  incentives  and  hoped-for  objects  ;  but  before  doing  so  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  describe  the  origin  of  our  hero's  association 
with  the  polite  society  of  the  great  island  city,  which  will  neces 
sarily  involve  some  further  brief  description  of  the  family  of  the 
Parapets. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THERE  has  always  been  a  great  deal  of  doubt  in  the  outer, 
more  especially  in  the  European  world,  as  to  the  existence  in 
America  of  the  family  of  the  Parapets.  Now  it  is  one  among 
the  many  objects  of  this  veritable  history  to  set  that  doubt  en 
tirely  at  rest.  That  the  Parapets  do  positively  exist  I  most  un 
hesitatingly  pledge  myself ;  and  beg  leave  further  to  record  the 
conviction  that  the  stress  of  events  would  very  speedily  have  es 
tablished  the  fact  of  their  existence,  even  had  my  history  failed 
to  do  so.  Nevertheless,  such  personal  testimony  as  I  am  able  to 
afford  will  not,  I  trust,  be  regarded  as  supererogatory,  since  any 
thing  which  throws  light  upon  so  important  and  so  much  mooted 
a  point  may  be  presumed  to  have  its  uses. 

In  flying  back  over  the  continent  from  the  marvellous  land  of 
gold — and  I  may  mention,  passim,  that  I  so  flew  very  soon  after 
Hugh  Gifford  became  a  rich  man — just  as  the  sun  is  constrained 
to  gild  first  the  highest  peaks,  I  feel  impelled  to  enlighten  the 
reader  by  touching  upon  the  Parapets — a  simile  which  may  or 
may  not  be  deemed  to  make  up  in  appositeness  what  it  lacks  in 
modesty,  but  which  will  be  warmly  appreciated  by  that  family 
themselves,  however  it  may  miss  endorsement  from  the  remain 
der  of  mankind. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  30? 

To  begin,  then,  after  the  order  indicated,  it  is  necessary  to  il 
lumine  the  highest  pinnacle  in  the  person  of  the  head  of  ihe 
house  ;  it  is  necessary  to  give  some  brief  account  of  Mr.  Dyce 
Parapet.  This  gentlemen  was — and.  refusing  to  take  note  of 
time,  still  apparently  is — a  comely,  well-preserved,  wholesome, 
benevolent,  and  regular  individual  of  sixty  ;  with  smooth  white 
haii',  smooth  white  hands,  a  clear  skin,  a  starchy  manner,  and  a 
good  digestion.  There  were  a  great  number  of  Mr.  Dyce  Para 
pets  before  the  present  one,  going  back  for  many  a  year  before 
the  Revolution ;  and  they  were  physically  the  pictures  of  their 
living  representative,  except  it  may  be  they  were  a  trifle  stouter 
and  taller.  But  after  going  back  for  a  few  generations  you  would 
find  other  than  physical  differences  between  them.  You  would 
find  that  they  did  not  in  those  days  think  it  well  to  shrink  into 
their  shells  like  oysters  to  avoid  the  rough  contact  of  the  world 
without ;  did  not  think  themselves  in  the  exceptional  position  of 
owing  no  duty  whatever  to  their  fellow  beings  in  general,  or  to 
their  countrymen  in  particular  ;  in  a  word,  there  was  no  doubt 
in  their  time  as  to  whether  or  no  the  Dyce  Parapets  really  existed ; 
and  this  fact  is  suggestive  of  the  most  important  divergence  be 
tween  the  family  of  yesterday  and  the  family  of  to-day. 

The  Mr.  Parapet  of  to-day  had  never  been  in  trade,  had  nev 
er  been  in  any  profession,  had  never  been  in  the  legislature, 
either  local  or  national ;  in  brief,  had  never  been  in  anything  ex 
cepting  the  bosom  of  his  family,  and  such  limited  and  highly 
exclusive  social  circles  as,  with  cautiously  adapted  radii,  swept 
within  the  probability  of  noise  or  publicity.  These  circles  were 
constituted  of  people  of  similar  aptitudes  fordoing  nothing,  and 
not  being  heard  of;  and,  collectively  speaking,  they  were  re 
markably,  successful  in  carrying  out  their  tastes.  Hence,  there 
is  the  same  apocryphal  glamour  thrown  over  them  by  society  at 
large  as  enshrouds  the  Parapets  ;  and  as  they  are  not  much 
more  accessible  to  strangers  than  to  their  own  country  folk, 
many  an  European  tourist,  after  thoroughly  travelling  over,  and 
completely  understanding  everything  else  in  America  in  the  space 
of  six  months,  has  yet  departed  with  an  unhappy  persuasion  that 
these  families  were,  like  the  Parapets,  altogether  mythical,  and  not 
to  be  accepted  by  the  intelligent  observer  as  corporeal  entities. 
This  was  a  general  effect,  highly  pleasing  and  satisfactory -to  the 
families ;  and  so  far  as  some  of  the  tourists  themselves  are  con 
cerned.  I  confess  that  its  production  strikes  me  as  by  no  means 
an  unmixed  evil,  much  as  I  may  deprecate  it  in  a  general  way. 

In  suggesting  indolence  as  a  prevalent  characteristic  of  the 
class  whereof  the  Parapets  were  a  type,  I  only  intend  to  convey 


308  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

that  they  eschewed  effort,  as  connected  with  the  public  service 
or  in  the  channel  of  regular  pursuits  or  professions;  but  they 
were  by  no  means  indolent  in  respect  of  personal  accomplish 
ments  or  the  acquisition  of  knowldge.  Mr.  Dyce  Parapet  him 
self  was  a  very  well  read  as  well  as  a  very  well  bred  man.  He 
had  been  substantially  grounded  in  his  youth  in  classic  and  po 
lite  letters,  and  the  family  had  always  preserved  and  augmented 
an  uncommonly  fine  library,  to  the  advantages  of  which  he  was 
far  from  insensible.  He  took  pleasure  at  sixty  in  Homer  and  the 
dramatists,  and  made  Latin  verses  not  to  be  despised.  He  read 
with  undeviating  regularity  all  the  best  of  the  foreign  reviews, 
and  the  most  scholarly  books  which  money  could  bring  from  the 
teeming  press  of  Europe.  He  was  well  versed  in  history  and 
political  economy,  and  nothing  emanated  from  the  great  mod 
ern  lights  in  either  field  that  he  did  not  straightway  grapple  and 
draw  knowledge  from  it.  But  all  these  tastes  and  acquirements 
were  quite  valueless  to  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  Mr. 
Parapet  had  no  more  idea  of  the  significancy  lying  in  the  phys 
ical  fact  that  all  bodies  which  receive  light  give  light,  than  he  had 
of  making  an  auto-da-fe  of  himself  for  the  general  good  of  the 
community.  If  he  cherished  any  particular  theory  touching  the 
object  of  his  existence,  it  resolved  itself  into  a  sort  of  negative 
assumption  that  there  was  no  niche,  no  particular  sphere  of  use 
fulness,  open  to  him  or  such  as  him  in  his  country  as  it  now  was ; 
with  which  idea  I  have  nothing  to  do,  further  than  to  record 
that  it  was  entertained,  and  furnished  an  excuse,  if  any  there 
was,  for  the  aimless,  drone-like,  useless  life  which  Mr.  Parapet 
and  his  compeers  lived. 

Mr.  Parapet  was  very  rich.  When  people  have  large  estates, 
which  for  years  have  been  rising  in  value,  and  on  which  they 
pay  next  to  no  taxes,  they  are  very  apt  to  become  so.  .  He  had 
always  been  prudent,  like  most  of  his  predecessors  ;  and,  al 
though  by  no  means  illiberal  in  his  expenditure,  and  having  an 
expensive  family,  his-  property  had  steadily  increased  until  he 
was  perhaps  one  of  the  richest  landowners  in  the  State.  But 
for  the  untaxed  protection  afforded  by  that  State  he  never  dream 
ed  of  making  any  return  ;  and  if  his  attention  had  been  forcibly 
directed  to  the  subject,  he  would  doubtless  have  urged  that  such 
contributions  as  were  made  to  the  public  revenue,  in  the  way  of 
customs  duties  on  the  articles  consumed  by  his  family,  were  an 
adequate  requital  for  the  security  conferred.  And  in  justice  it 
may  be  acknowledged,  that  Mrs.  Parapet  and  Miss  Parapet  were 
unconscious  patriots  in  the  way  of  French  millinery  to  an  extent 
that  might  partially  justify  the  plea. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  309 

Clinton,  the  only  son  and  heir  of  this  august  house,  having 
passed  his  four  years  at  Harvard  University,  had  been  sent,  as 
was  customary  with  all  young  Parapets,  to  make  the  tour  of 
Europe,  and  incidentally  it  was  supposed  that  he  would  extend 
the  range  of  his  intellectual  vision,  and  give  the  rounding  touches 
to  his  scholarship  at  a  venerable  seat  of  learning  in  Germany. 
It  was  at  Gottingen  in  truth  that  Hugh  Gifford  met  this  young 
scion,  about  a  twelvemonth  after  the  strange  fortune  that  brought 
our  hero  wealth.  Americans,  like  Englishmen,  often  make 
friends  of  each  other  abroad,  when  hardly  any  thing  short  of 
physical  torture  would  induce  them  to  speak  at  home.  Hugh 
was  struck  by  the  easy  bearing  and  gentlemanly  manners  of  his 
countryman,  so  different  from  many  among  whom  his  own  youth 
had  been  passed,  and  took  more  pains  than  he  was  wont  to  give 
himself  on  such  a  score,  to  cultivate  Clinton's  society.  After 
wards  they  made  a  trip  to  Paris,  and  saw  much  of  the  glittering 
capital  in  company.  Three  or  four  years'  seniority,  and  more 
than  those  years  implied  a  certain  rough  knowledge  of  the  world, 
put  Hugh  in  something  of  the  position  of  a  mentor,  and  he 
often  found  himself  half  unconsciously  giving  forth  the  same  sort 
of  schooling  he  himself  had  received  from  softer  lips  in  the 
wilds  of  the  West.  These  utterances  chiefly  took  the  form  of 
speculation  and  advice  as  to  future  prospects. 

"You  have  no  fancy  for  the  bar  ?"  he  asked,  at  an  early  stage 
of  their  acquaintance. 

"None;  or  at  least,  what  little  I  have  is  curbed  by  the  knowl 
edge  that  practice  at  it  is  quite  out  of  the  question." 

"Of  course  it's  very  difficult  to  work  up;  I've  found  that 
out." 

"  I  don't  mean  that.  I  could,  of  course,  afford  to  wait.  But 
there  are  other  and  stronger  objections." 

"You  think  it  too  dry?" 

"  Oh  no  ;  I  could  stand  that.  But  what  man  who  has  a  name 
he  feels  bound  to  respect  can  enter  a  profession  where  the  chief 
prizes  are  accorded  to  such  men  as  now  hold  them  at  New  York  ? 
To  be  sure,  there  are  people  of  high  character  and  attainments 
in  it  there,  no  doubt  as  high  as  any  elsewhere,  but  they  are  ex 
ceptions  ;  the  general  tone  is  such  that  success  doesn't  imply  the 
possession  of  qualities  one  would  wish  to  have  the  reputation  of; 
that's  all." 

"  It  is  better  at  Boston." 

"Oh,  I  dare  say;  everything's  better  at  Boston;  and  yet  you 
people  who  come  away  never  want  to  get  back  to  it !" 


310  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

"  That  is  for  other  reasons  ;  in  my  case  at  least.  But  if  the 
bar  won't  answer,  I  suppose  you'll  go  into  polities'?" 

u  My  dear  fellow  !  what  can  you  be  thinking  of?  Go  into 
Congress,  or  the  Assembly,  to  sit  with  McSwyne  ;  to  deliberate 
with  Gagger,  O'Slasher,  and  Bowie  ;  to  pair  off  with  an  Irish 
grog-seller,  or  be  put  on  committee  with  a  lottery  .sharper! 
Why,  the  race  of  Parapets  would  rise  in  their  graves  and  pro 
rogue  the  house  !  No  ;  no  political  life  for  me." 

"But  surely  people  of  your  name  have  sat  in  the  national 
councils?  And,  granting  the  evils  you  imply,  the  leaven  to 
rectify  them  must  come  from  above,  not  from  below." 

"Oh  yes,  there  have  been  Parapets  in  Congress,  and  in  the 
cabinet  too,  for  that  matter.  But  look,  I  pray  you,  at  the  com 
pany  they  kept ;  look  at  the  names,  sixty,  fifty,  even  fi  ve-and- 
twenty  years  ago,  and  note  the  difference  As  to  the  leaven, 
none  is  required.  The  people  are  satisfied,  and  if  not  they  have 
full  power  to  be  so.  They  can  do  without  the  Parapets,  the 
Parapets  can  do  without  them.  Voila  tout  /" 

"  Ah,  taxation  is  low  now,  and  do  what  they  may  they  cannot 
spur  you  into  rebellion ;  but  were  a  great  war  to  come,  you  will 
find  the  necessity  for  being  heard  and  represented,  unless  you 
propose  to  submit  to  spoliation.  Have  you  ever  thought  of  the 
army.1?" 

"  Ay,  truly ;  but  there's  nobody  to  fight.  You  see,  there's 
nothing  on  earth  to  do  in  America,  but  for-  those  who  have 
money  to  keep  it,  and  for  those  who  haven't  to  make  it.  And 
it's  lucky  that,  seeing  there  are  so  many  ways  to  make  it,  the  lat 
ter  class  are  saved  the  temptation  to  rob  the  former.  As  for  the 
army,  cui  lono  ?  You  are  sent  into  the  swamps  of  Florida,  or  to 
the  extremity  of  the  western  frontier,  to  catch  fever  and  ague, 
and  pick  off  the  poor  devils  of  red-skins.  No  great  incentive 
in  that,  and  yet  it's  all  our  officers  can  do." 

' '  Not  very  inviting,  I  grant.  Still  there  must  surely  be  some 
fields  of  usefulness  ;  perhaps  you've  thought  of  turning  author '?" 

"  I  doubt  my  ability.  But  were  it  indisputable,  I  don't  see 
how  it  could  be  put  to  much  use.  It  is  too  unremittingly  labori 
ous,  too  open  to  the  criticism  of  fools,  too  uncertain  in  its  results ; 
in  a  word,  its  toils  and  rewards  are  too  disproportionate  to  offer 
attractions  for  me.  I've  too  little  of  th<3  sacred  fire  which  makes 
men  ignore  the  balance  or  despise  it,  and  should  always  be 
measuring  profit  and  loss." 

"Well,  then,  after  all,  what  do  you  mean  to  do?  Since  the 
bar  and  the  forum  are  too  ignoble,  the  field  too  inactive  or  in- 


THE   QUEST   FOR   FORTU1SE.  311 

glorious,  and  the  pen  too  unprofitable,  if  you  will  allow  me  to 
ask,  what  are  you  to  do  ?" 

"Do?  Ah,  well,  what  my  grandfather  and  father  have  done 
before  me,  and  succeeded  so  admirably  in  doing — Nothing.  It 
is  a  pursuit  we  have  learned  to  accept  as  a  sort  of  political 
necessity ;  we  have  been  taught  that  in  a  successful  republic, 
from  the  inevitable  nature  of  things,  there  is  Nothing  to  Do  for 
the  Parapets." 

Now  Gifford  had  been  rather  bitterly  of  opinion  that  there 
was  not  much  to  be  done  by  a  poor  gentleman  in  his  country, 
but  that  there  should  be  no  niche,  not  even  an  ornamental  one, 
for  a  rich  gentleman,  he  felt  bound  to  combat.  So  he  set  to 
work  with  something  very  like  zeal  to  persuade  the  young  aris 
tocrat  that  it  was  his  duty  to  strive  for  the  common  weal,  albeit 
such  labors  might  not  advance  his  own;  and  that  those  who 
were  placed  by  fortune  above  the  necessity  of  toiling  for  bread, 
were  clearly  bound  to  employ  their  powers  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  were  under  it.  He  pointed  out  that  in  a  new  countiy, 
where  tho  absence  of  shackling  conventionalities  and  time- 
honored  formulas  enabled  new  experiments  to  be  safely  made  in 
the  science  of  human  development,  and  the  art  of  human  hap 
piness,  it  was  a  noble  privilege  to  assist  and  to  guide  such  experi 
ments  to  their  benevolent  conclusions  and  fruition.  No  poor 
man  could  devote  himself  to  such  humane  pursuits  with  a  pros 
pect  of  achieving  any  considerable  results.  But  any  of  inde 
pendent  means  might  surely  do  so,  and  thus  gain  the  gratitude 
of  his  species,  and  the  blessings  of  his  own  conscience.  Thus 
argued  Hugh,  with  earnestness  and  no  little  eloquence. 

But  his  disciple  was  too  substantially  grounded  in  what  might 
be  termed  the  Parapetian  Philosophy.,  to  be  more  than  tempo 
rarily  affected  by  such  suggestions.  The  Parapets  had  served 
their  country  very  faithfully,  so  long  as  there  was  any  need,  but 
now  there  really  was  none.  The  people,  had  good  schools,  high 
wages,  cheap  provisions,  universal  suffrage,  and  what  could  the 
Parapets  give  them  more  ?  Nothing  whatever  had  the  Parapets 
kept  to  themselves  except  their  money  and  then-  lands,  which 
they  really  couldn't  distribute  unless  they  turned  Socialists  at 
once,  which  was  not  in  their  way.  What  could  the  masses — the 
foundations — want  that  the  Parapets  had  not  resigned  to  them  ? 
The  press  was  theirs,  the  legislature  was  theirs,  the  pulpit  was 
theirs,  the  bar  was  theirs,  even  the  arrangements  on  the  lines  of 
travel  had  been  made  exclusively  theirs.  The  Parapets  had 
even  paid  t fiat, regard  to  public  opinion  as  to  hide  themselves 
away  from  the  public  eye,  that  the  public  might  not  be  offended 


312  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

by  the  spectacle  of  greater  wealth  or  refinement  than  the  public, 
in  a  general  sense,  possessed.  Clinton  didn't  really  know  what 
they  could  do  more,  unless  it  might  be  to  commit  suicide,  en 
masse,  and  leave  their  property  for  public  distribution,  and  their 
memory  to  public  gratitude ;  in  which  case  each  would  last  about 
the  same  time,  so  that  it  would  be  of  no  permanent  service.  In 
a  word,  there  was  nothing  to  argue,  nothing  to  fight,  nothing  to 
teach,  nothing  to  write,  nothing  from  any  possible  point  of  view 
for  a  Parapet — but  to  be  a  Parapet,  and  do  nothing. 

"And  after  all,"  remarked  their  youthful  representative, 
"  what  a  pretty  fellow  you  are  for  a  mentor !  Here  have  you 
been — by  your  own  confession — flying  about  Europe  like  a  bil 
liard-ball  for  a  whole  year — first  on  one  side,  then  on  the  other 
— one  week  in  Vienna,  the  next  in  Madrid  ;  yesterday  in  Regent 
Street,  to-day  lounging  in  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  and  for 
what  ?  You  haven't  even  the  excuse  of  study,  such  as  I  have  at 
Gottingen ;  you're  a  time-killer,  pure  and  simple,  and  you  re 
proach  me  for  wasting  it !" 

"Unjust,"  quoth  Hugh,  "although  very  natural.  Time  is  no 
enemy  of  mine ;  at  least  I  have  not  intentionally  ill-used  it. 
It's  not  my  fault  that  I  have  perforce  either  killed  or  wasted 
it." 

"Ah,  you  mean  you  have  had  an  object?" 

1 '  Unquestionably. " 

"  Which  is  a  secret,  of  course  ?" 

"  For  the  moment  only.  I'll  tell  it  you  willingly  when  it  is 
accomplished;  that  is,"  he  added,  with  a  heavy  sigh,  "if  it  ever 
is  accomplished." 

"Tut!"  said  young  Parapet,  carelessly,  "everything  in  this 
life  is  sure  to  be  accomplished  if  we  but  stick  to  it  long  enough." 

A  strange  sentiment  from  a  Parapet — from  the  scion  of  a 
family,  no  member  of  which,  within  the  memory  of  man,  had 
had  any  aim  or  object  to  accomplish  whatever :  yet  it  did  not 
strike  Hugh  as  incongruous.  There  are  men  who,  without  ever 
doing  anything  at  all,  give  you  the  idea  that  they  could  do  every 
thing  in  the  world  if  they  liked ;  and  the  Parapets  were  always 
of  the  class. 

Neither  was  the  lack  of  tenacity  a  weakness  in  Gilford's 
character.  He  had  blood  in  his  veins  which  led  him  to  an  in 
stinctive  conviction  that  what  .he  willed  to  do,  he  had  strength 
to  compass.  It  was  not  through  want  of  resolution,  and  assuredly 
not  through  want  of  industry,  that  for  so  many  months  he  had 
failed  in  the  chief  thing,  to  effect  which  he  had  visited  Europe. 
Truly  surprising  is  it  how  enterprises  will  miscarry  from  what 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  313 

are  apparently  the  simplest  causes.  Nothing,  for  example, 
appears  easier  in  these  days  of  newspapers  and  telegrams  than 
to  find  any  particular  person  whom  you  know  to  be  travelling 
openly  and  freely  about  the  Continent.  It  would  seem  that  with 
a  little  trouble — a  few  inquiries,  two  or  three  lines  in  the  Times 
perhaps — you  can  discover  the  object  of  your  search.  Yet  I 
have  known  devices  and  experiments  to  be  exhausted,  to  which 
these  are  as  nothing,  and  they  have  absolutely  and  unaccount 
ably  foiled. 

Hugh  could  not  exactly  advertise  Marian  in  the  Times,  but 
there  was  scarcely  any  other  conceivable  expedient  to  which  he 
did  not  resort,  and  which  did  not  ignominiously  fail,  during  his 
year  in  Europe.  The  London  banker  he  had  easily  found 
directly  after  his  arrival;  but  he  could  furnish  no  more  in  the 
way  of  details  than  could  Mr.  Rivingstone's  agent  at  New  York. 
The  party  were  on  the  Continent,  he  said ;  they  had  circular 
notes  ;  he  did  not  know  when  they  would  return ;  would,  with 
pleasure,  take  charge  of  any  letters,  but  had  no  address  to  which 
he  could  forward  them,  and  really  did  not  know  when  they 
might  be  expected  to  reach  the  hands  for  which  they  were  in 
tended. 

With  this  scanty  intelligence  Hugh  left  England  at  once,  re 
serving  for  the  future  his  intended  tour  through  the  country 
which  from  childhood  had  more  deeply  interested  him  than  any 
other.  But  in  vain  had  he  visited,  in  rapid  succession,  the  chief 
cities  of  France,  Italy,  Germany,  and  Spain  ;  no  trace  could  be 
discovered  of  the  Rivingstones  or  of  Marian. 

"Did  you  ever  hear  of  Mahomet  and  the  mountain?"  queried 
Clinton,  as  they  sat  smoking  one  placid  May  evening  in  his 
apartment  in  the  Rue  de  Rivoli.  The  dusk  was  just  coming  on, 
and  hazier  and  hazier  grew  the  distant  view  of  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe.  Whatever  Gifford  was  thinking  of — whether  of  his 
lost  love  or  the  Barriere  de  1'Etoile — it  is  certain  the  question 
had  to  be  repeated  before  it  was  understood  and  answered. 

"  Well,  and  what  then  ?" 

u  Only  you  seem  to  have  been  scampering  about  trying  to  get 
at  something  you  have  never  reached  ;  and  it  struck  me  that 
if  you  remained  stationary — in  one  place — the  something  might 
come  to  you." 

"  Ah !" 

"  Of  course  it  requires  more  patience  and  all  that.  But  then 
it  saves  a  deal  of  trouble." 

"Yes." 

"  Suppose  now  you  were  to  settle  youself  down  here  in  this 
14 


314  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

very  hotel.  Sooner  or  later  all  the  world  comes  to  Paris. 
Everyone  who  comes  to  Paris  passes  through  the  Rue  de  Rivoli. 
Sit  at  this  same  window  with  an  opera  glass,  therefore,  and  sooner 
or  later  the  mountain  will  come  to  you.  Q.  E.  D."  ' 

"  Clearly  demonstrated,  certainly. " 

"  My  dear  fellow,  it's  infallible.  What  you  have  done  hitherto 
has  been,  notwithstanding  your  disclaimer,  sheer  waste  of  time. 
I'll  wager  that  in  a  quarter  of  the  space  from  this  coigne  of  van 
tage  you'll  succeed." 

* '  At  all  events  it  is  worth  the  trial,"  half  mused  Gifford. 

"  Worth  the  trial !  To  be  sure  it  is ;  and  as  I  never  invented 
anything  before  in  my  life,  I'm  anxious  to  see  this  put  to  the  test 
You'll  stay  here  then  l?" 

Hugh  reflected.  He  must,  at  all  events,  remain  abroad  for  a 
year.  It  was  quite  necessary  to  do  so,  for  in  America  he 
would  constantly  incur  the  risk  of  a  miscarriage  in  his  plan  for 
concealing  the  change  in  his  fortunes  from  Virginia ;  that  is, 
unless  he  were  to  conceal  himself  somewhere  and  adopt  the  ex 
pedient  of  an  incognito,  neither  of  which  he  desired  to  do.  On 
his  return  he  proposed  to  take  the  position  which  his  wealth 
might  allow  him  to  hold,  and  to  carry  out  projects  dim  and 
shadowy  as  yet  in  detail,  but  not  the  less  resolved  upon  in  their 
general  outline.  He  might  as  well  remain  at  Paris  for  a  time  as 
elsewhere. 

"  I  will,"  he  replied  at  length,  "  at  least  for  the  present,  or 
until  I  see  good  reason  for  flight.  And  although  I've  great 
doubts  of  the  success  of  your  scheme,  yet  should  it  turn  out 
luckily,  you  shall  not  be  begrudged  the  fullest  credit." 

There  followed  a  week  of  Parisian  gay ety  ;  not,  it  may  be  said, 
of  dissoluteness,  for  it  was  a  marked  bond  of  sympathy  between 
them  that  neither  of  the  young  men  was  easily  fascinated  by  the 
more  vulgar  pleasures.  That  your  friend  is  Diogenes  may  be  no 
great  attraction  ;  but  it  is  often  the  reverse  of  one  if  he  be  an 
Alcibiades.  Coda  oveja  con  su  parcga,  saith  the  old  Spanish 
proverb,  and  the  birds  of  a  feather  usually  flock  together  in  Paris 
as  freely  as  anywhere  else,  to  say  the  least. 

One  morning  there  was  a  great  deal  of  trumpeting  and  tramp 
ling  of  hoofs  in  the  great  street  below,  and  Hugh  looking  forth 
saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  cortege  of  Chasseurs.  What  they  es 
corted  had  preceded  the  detachment  now  in  view,  which  was  ev 
idently  bringing  up  the  rear.  Behind  them  again  was  a  closely 
packed  crowd  of  vehicles,  which  had  been  impeded  by  the  pro 
cession,  and  so  accumulated  together. 

Toward  these  carriages,  idly  following  Clinton's  advice,  our 


THE   QUEST   FOtt    FORTUNE.  315 

hero  directed  his  opera  glass.  He  looked  long  and  earnestly, 
and  although  the  instrument  hid  his  eyes,  his  companion,  lolling 
in  an  arm-chair  close  by,  had  no  difficulty  in  seeing  a  great  change 
come  over  the  expression  of  Hugh's  face. 

"By  Jove  I"  cried  Mr.  Parapet,  "the  mountain  has  come  to 
Mahomet  1" 

It  had  not.  But  if  such  a  physical  phenomenon  had  presented 
in  good  earnest— certainly  if  he  had  seen  what  the  metaphor  was 
intended  to  illustrate — Hugh's  face  would  not  have  expressed 
more  interest  and  surprise  ;  for  he  saw  in  the  showiest  cabriolet 
which  adorned  the  gaudy  throng,  with  a  countenance  fraught 
with  cunning,  and  flushed  with  gratified  vanity,  the  prosperous 
owner  of  the  factory  at  Persepolis  and  the  variety  store  of 
Canaan  ;  while  by  his  side,  radiant  in  the  delicate  frippery  of  a 
French  bonnet,  gorgeous  hi  the  crumpling  rotundities  of  a  won 
derful  moire  antique,  sat  the  golden-haired  idol  of  Hugh  Gilford's 
youthful  imagination — Virginia  Chester. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THOSE  most  deeply  skilled  in  the  mysteries  of  the  human  in 
telligence,  tell  us  that  actions  are  rarely  undertaken  at  the  stim 
ulus  of  a  single  motive  ;  that  there  are  commonly  one  or  more 
besides  the  ostensible  one,  which  help  to  strengthen  the  aim  and 
buttress  the  resolution.  True  it  is,  that  if  we  carefully  examine 
our  experience,  whether  in  the  colossal  affairs  of  national,  or  the 
petty  ones  of  individual  life,  we  find  an  almost  invariable  diver 
sity  of  opinion  existing  among  mankind  as  to  the  incentives 
which  have  dictated  actions  ;  an  evidence  which  is  reasonably 
conclusive  in  establishing  that  those  incentives  have  been  of  a 
mixed  and  complicated  character. 

Without  pausing  to  do  more  than  suggest  a  theory  so  open  to 
common  investigation,  I  may  say  that  Hugh  Gifford's  course  gen 
erally  illustrated  its  inference.  He  came  to  Europe  at  the  insti 
gation  of  more  motives  than  one,  and  he  left  it  for  at  least  as 
many.  A  few  days  before  seeing  Virginia,  as  narrated  in  the 
last  chapter,  he  had  written  to  Mr.  Rivingstone's  banker  to  ask 
if  he  could  yet  afford  any  information  as  to  the  whereabouts  of 
that  gentleman.  This  same  evening  there  came  two  letters.  The 
first,  from  the  banker,  was  the  briefest,  and  to  the  effect  that  Mr. 


316  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

Rivingstone  and  party  had  sailed  for  New  York  three  weeks  be 
fore.  The  second  was  from  John  Chester,  having  been  for 
warded  from  Hugh's  address  at  the  same  city,  and  contained  an 
account  of  the  nuptials  of  his  sister  with  Mr.  Alphonso  Gay  cow. 

"I  feel  sure,"  wrote  John,  after  a  blunt  statement  of  the  lead 
ing  facts  he  had  to  communicate,  "  that  your  regard  for  Virginia 
is  such,  as  not  to  allow  a  natural  pain  at  this  event  to  prevent 
your  rejoicing  at  her  prospects  of  a  comfortable  and  assured 
future.  G.  has  very  handsomely  cleared  the  mortgage  on  father's 
farm,  so  that  the  old  gentleman  can  now  go  on  swimmingly. 
The  house  has  been  repainted  from  top  to  bottom,  and  the  new 
one  for  the  married  pair  is  quite  the  envy  of  Canaan.  The  gro 
cery  business  is  really  a  very  good  one,and  G.  is  a  remarkably  smart 
man.  He  is  much  respected  in  Boston,  where  he  often  comes  to 
make  purchases.  I  suppose  you  have  about  given  up  the  idea  of 
ever  settling  here  ;  and  people  do  get  rather  set  and  different 
when  they  stay  away  long.  Perhaps  if  you  came  back,  and  it 
was  perfectly  understood  you  returned  with  the  intention  of  staying 
for  good,  many  who  are  a  little  prejudiced  might  be  induced  to 
modify.  I  am  doing  well,  and  have  bought  a  likely  piece  of 
woodland  at  Canaan  Centre  for  twenty-seven  dollars,  sixty-two 
and  a  half  cents  ($27  C2)<<)  an  acre,  being  sure  to  rise.  The 
heavy  men  at  the  bar  seem  disposed  to  give  me  a  chance,  being, 
as  they  say,  wide-awake,  and  always  on  hand.  Virginia  and  her 
husband  take  a  bridal  tour  for  a  month  or  two  in  Europe.  I 
write  as  I  promised,  and  suppose  that  this  is  what  you  meant  me 
to  advise  you  of  when  you  asked  me  to  do  so,  and  would  be  glad 
if  it  were  of  a  more  agreeable  character  to  yourself.  I  can't  help 
thinking,  if  you  had  stayed  in  Boston,  things  would  have  been 
different.  Some  of  our  old  friends  at  Cambridge  inquire  about 
you  occasionally  ;  but  they  clearly  think  it  unfortunate  that  you 
should  have  stayed  away  so  long,  unless  it  was  to  come  back 
under  different  circumstances,  &c.,  &c.  Wishing  you  all  the 
prosperity  that  can  be  had  out  of  Boston,  I  am  yours,  &c., 
JOHN  CHESTER." 

We  have  now  seen  that  Hugh  had  reasons  enough  to  take 
him  back  to  America,  if  not  to  Boston.  Whether  he  had  be 
haved  well  or  ill  in  essaying  his  experiment  with  Virginia,  he  had 
essayed  it ;  and  it  would  be  idle  to  deny  that  the  result  was 
gratifying  to  him.  Kot  all  gratification  truly ;  for  there  are  not 
many  more  men  than  women  in  the  world  who  are  pleased  to 
know  that,  whatever  the  circumstances,  another  has  been  prefer 
red  to  themselves.  But  this  trifling  drawback  was  as  nothing  to 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  317 

the  great  swell  of  joy  with  which  he  anticipated  the  possibility 
of  a  union  with  Marian. 

Love  for.  nay,  almost  worship  of  Marian,  had  grown  to  be  the 
strongest  passion  Gifford  had  ever  experienced.  It  was  a  pas 
sion  which  the  lapse  of  time,  the  obstacles  of  circumstances,  the 
accidents  which  prevented  their  meeting,  only  made  the  stronger. 
There  are  plenty  of  people  whom  such  things  will  cool  and  deter, 
for  all  the  dreams  of  poets  and  the  theories  of  rhapsodists  ;  prob 
ably  the  majority  ;  but  Gifford  was  not  among  them.  If  Vir 
ginia,  believing  him  poor,  had  not  wavered  in  her  constancy — 
had  still  adhered  to  her  engagement — I  think  Hugh  would  have 
married  her,  everything  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding  ;  but  he 
was  now  prepared  to  follow  Marian  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
if  he  could,  to  win  her  there. 

So,  with  letters  to  the  Parapets,  which  Clinton  insisted  on  his 
taking,  a  year  of  European  experience,  and  a  heart  full  of  hopes, 
doubts,  and  divers  jostling  schemes  of  ambition,  back  came  Hugh 
from  the  Old  World  to  the  Xew ;  where,  in  the  first  weeks  of  his 
arrival,  he  disported  himself  as  has  already  been  described. 
But,  in  a  certain  respect,  he  was  no  more  fortunate  on  one  side 
the  ocean  than  on  the  other,  for  he  could  not  find  Marian. 

His  purchase  of  a  house  in  the  great  city  was  prompted  by  a 
mingling  of  two  purposes.  If  he  was  to  be  useful  in  any  man 
ner  to  his  country,  he  first  must  become  a  resident  of  it.  A  local 
habitation  was  an  indispensable  prerequisite  to  a  name.  But  he 
'  loved  also  to  think  he  was  making  a  home  which  might  become 
Marian's  ;  perhaps  as  strong  a  motive  as  the  patriotic  one.  Fi 
nally,  Mr.  Parapet,  Sen.,  a  shrewd  judge  in  such  matters,  had 
warmly  recommended  Mm  to  buy  the  property,  if  only  as  an  in 
vestment,  upon  the  very  sensible  ground  that  he  was  quite  sure 
to  double  his  money  in  from  five  to  seven  years  by  its  sale,  should 
he  determine  not  to  retain  it  as  a  permanent  residence. 

Mr.  Parapet  introduced  him,  with  much  circumspection  and 
pomp,  to  several  elderly  gentleman,  all  starchy,  well  bred,  and 
in  a  high  state  of  preservation,  and  all  bearing  names  conveying 
that  general  suggestion  of  representing  apocryphal  families  which 
his  own  did.  And  these  gentlemen,  after  successively  and  reg 
ularly  mistaking  Hugh  for  an  Englishman,  treated  him  with  great 
courtesy,  invited  him  to  dinner,  and  introduced  him  to  their  va 
rious  unexceptional  wives  and  highly-accomplished  daughters. 
The  young  men  were,  generally  speaking,  either  travelling  like 
Clinton  Parapet,  studying  at  some  university,  or  otherwise  absent 
from  the  family  hearth.  There  was  nothing  for  them  to  do  there, 
no  interest  for  them  in  local  or  national  politics,  no  temptation  to 


318  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

professional  exertion  of  any  kind,  too  much  money  to  make  la 
bor  of  any  sort  obligatory ;  so  for  the  most  part  they  followed 
the  Parapetian  plan  and  did  nothing ;  preferring  as  a  rule  to  do 
it  somewhere  else,  however,  than  under  the  paternal  roof. 

It  was  certainly  a  great  advantage  to  Hugh  Gilford  to  be 
launched,  in  a  social  sense,  by  the  Parapets.  Their  endorsement 
was  highly  valuable,  for  the  reason  that  although  they  had  little 
in  common  with  the  classes  who  did  Anything,  yet  the  latter  were 
accustomed  to  accept  their  imprint  with  the  greatest  reverence, 
and  to  regard  their  judgments  as  without  appeal.  With  such  an 
endorsement,  the  neophyte  could  wander  at  will  through  all  the 
various  chambers  and  halls  of  the  edifice,  descending  until  he  ar 
rived  at  the  very  foundations  ;  and  although  the  lower  he  went, 
the  less  the  occupants  knew  of  the  Parapets,  and  the  more  dim 
and  shadowy  they  appeared,  there  were  no  strata  where — not 
withstanding  some  incredulity,  and  here  and  there  a  weak  at 
tempt  at  ridicule — they  were  not  looked  up  to,  jand  their  altitude 
acknowledged  with  more  or  less  of  awe.  The  worst  of  it  was, 
so  far  as  social  improvement  is  concerned — so  far  as  they  might 
have  been  valuable  as  standards  in  that  respect  if  not  in  any 
other — that  the  Parapets  held  themselves  so  high  that  they  could 
only  be  clearly  seen  by  those  upon  their  own  level,  and  so  envel 
oped  themselves  in  exclusive  clouds  that  they  became  almost  as 
useless  socially  as  they  were  politically. 

In  this  exalted  atmosphere,  Hugh  saw  and  heard  a  great  deal 
that  was,  without  doubt,  vastly  interesting  and  edifying.  He 
heard  clever  talk  about  books,  pictures,  statues ;  about  philoso 
phy,  history,  and  natural  science ;  appreciative  discussions  of 
new  inventions,  of  achievements  in  architecture  and  engineering ; 
of  the  progress  that  was  making  in  the  useful  arts  of  shipbuild 
ing,  telegraphing,  meteorology ;  of  jurisprudence,  and  the  mod 
ern  theories  in  trade  and  political  economy ;  and,  finally,  of  the 
public  affairs  of  nearly  every  country  in  the  world — excepting 
his  own. 

Our  hero  was  not  so  minutely  versed  in  the  workings  of  the 
system  under  which  he  had  been  born  and  bred  as  not  to  be  sur 
prised  at  the  prevalence  of  this  omission.  He  thought  it  curious 
if  by  chance  he  made  a  remark  about  affairs  at  Washington,  that 
it  should  be  received  either  in  silence  or  with  something  like 
well-bred  contempt.  He  could  not  perceive  why  the  domestic 
politics  of  Cochin  China  or  Timbuctoo  should  be  so  interesting 
and  appropriate  as  subjects  for  conversation,  while  those  of  the 
United  States  were  clearly,  and,  to  say  the  least,  mauvais  ton.  It 
was  truly  remarkable,  that,  in  so  great  and  growing  a  community, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  319 

the  wealthiest  citizens  who  had  most  leisure  to  serve  it,  and  the 
best  educated  who  had  most  ability,  should,  voluntarily  or  other 
wise  not  only  take  no  part  in  its  concerns,  but  positively  avoid 
then*  discussion. 

Happily  it  was  Giffbrd's  privilege  to  fall  in  with  a  gentleman 
who  was  both  able  and  willing  to  give  him  some  enlightenment. 
Indeed,  it  would  have  been  hard  to  find  any  one  more  competent 
to  instruct  on  cognate  subjects  than  Mr.  Eldon  Clyde ;  and 
although  that  gentleman  was  too  polite  to  refer  to  them  in  Para- 
petian  circles,  he  hesitated  not  in  more  mundane  spheres  to  im 
part  the  light  that  was  in  him. 

"Tell  me,"  said  this  authority,  on  hearing  a  statement  of 
Hugh's  difficulty,  "  why  do  you  send  to  the  bank,  when  they 
are  due,  to  draw  your  dividends  ?" 

Hugh  did  not  think  the  question  was  put  to  elecit  a  reply,  and 
was  silent, 

"  Why,"  pursued  Mr.  Clyde,  "  when  the  bell  sounds,  do  you 
go  to  get  your  dinner  ?  Why  do  you  put  on  thin  clothes  when  it 
is  hot  or  thick  ones  when  it  is  cold  ?  Why,  when  your  strong 
box  is  empty,  do  you  leave  it  unguarded  ?  and  when  it  is  full, 
fasten  it  with  locks  and  bolts  ?  Why  do  you  refuse  to  cross  the 
street  to  get  something  you  don't  value,  while  you  go  miles  for 
something  you  do  ?" 

"  Becaus*e,"  responded  Gilford  seeing  that  the  truisms  halted 
for  a  general  reply,  "  I  suppose  it  is  to  my  interest  to  do  so." 

"Precisely,"  said  Mr.  Clyde;  "and  when  it  is  to  the  interest 
of  these  people  to  busy  themselves  with  national  affairs  they'll 
do  it,  and  not  until  then." 

"  But  patriotism " 

"  A  dream.  So  far  as  public  service  is  concerned  in  ordinary 
times,  ;the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision.'  You  don't  get  the  best 
goods  hi  a  state  without  paying  the  best  price  for  them,  and  why 
should  you  get  the  best  talents?" 

"  Members  of  the  English  Parliament  are  unpaid,  and  so  are 
not  our  Congressmen." 

"  Ah,  but  note  the  distinction.  The  one  is  elevated  by  the  suf 
frage  of  the  most,  the  other  by  that  of  the  least,  cultivated  por 
tion  of  the  community — a  difference  which  is  all  in  all  in  mak 
ing  the  seats  covetable  to  the  members  of  either — and  the  event 
in  both  cases  demonstrates  the  truth  of  the  theory.  The  Para 
pets  don't  care  a  straw  for  mileage,  but  there,  is  nothing  in  the 
shape  of  dignity  or  association  which  are  given  with  it  which 
they  do  care  for." 

"  But  the  inference  is  that  our  system  is  so  framed  as  absolutely 


320  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

to  dissuade  the  most  capable  from  serving  under  it ;  to  deter  the 
men  who  could  do  the  country  most  good  from  aiding  it  at  all." 

' '  There  is  no  escape  from  such  an  inference,  for  it  is  an  un 
deniably  true  one.  I  don't  think  the  men  in  question  free  from 
blame  ;  they  should  bestir  themselves  more  in  despite  of  obsta 
cles,  or  rather  of  non-incentives,  and  so  they  probably  would  in 
case  of  any  great  need — -just  because  the  need  would  create  the 
incentives.  But  men  are  men  ;  and  the  country  being,  on  the 
whole,  so  prosperous,  the  defects  in  machinery  pass  unheeded, 
not  because  they  don't  exist,  but  because  there  is  no  strain  on 
those  particular  parts.  The  principle,  nevertheless,  which  ex 
cludes  a  class,  however  it  may  be  in  a  minority,  and  puts  all 
power  in  the  hands  of  another,  however  it  may  be  in  a  majority, 
would  belie  history  if  it  did  not  come  to  grief  some  time." 

"  The  class  could  make  itself  felt  if  it  liked." 

"  By  doing  what  is  contrary  to  human  nature — giving  every 
thing,  and  taking  nothing.  Look,  on  the  other  hand,  at  the  few 
offices  in  our  country  which  are  held  for  life  or  good  behavior ; 
in  them  the  nation  is  invariably  well  served." 

"  Time,  perhaps,  may  work  changes  for  the  better." 

"  Oh,  the  bulk  of  the  nation  is  well  satisfied,  and  well  it  may 
be.  As  to  change,  there  will  be  none  in  effects  until  they  arise 
in  causes.  So  long  as  taxes  are  so  low,  and  the  suffrage  so  ex 
tended,  what  are  termed  the  masses  will  rule,  and  the  educated 
and  refined  will  be  unrepresented." 

"  And  revenge  themselves  by  indifference  V 

"  As  you  see.     The  matter  lies  in  a  nutshell." 

Mr.  Eldon  Clyde  would  never  have  expressed  himself  as  he 
now  did  on  the  house-tops,  and  yet  the  public  very  often  heard 
from  him.  He  controlled  an  influential  newspaper,  and  was  gen 
erally  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  few  men  of  signal  talent  and  in 
tellectual  grasp  who  interested  themselves  in  politics.  When  he 
wrote  a  leader,  or  a  letter,  it  was  extensively  copied  and  quoted, 
and  usually  carried  weight.  But  neither  letter  nor  leader  ever 
contained  such  sentiments  as  those  he  expressed  to  Hugh  Gifford. 
They  were  always  skilfully  constructed,  with  a  keen  apprecia 
tion  of  the  calibre  of  the  intelligences  they  were  intended  to 
affect.  No  ammunition  was  thrown  away  which  would  fall  short 
of  its  mark,  or  drop  from  it  idly  without  being  felt,  seen,  or 
heeded.  Mr.  Clyde  understood  thoroughly  the  adaptation  of  means 
to  ends,  and  useless  force  was  as  abhorrent  to  his  taste  as  accu 
mulated  adjectives  and  superfluous  capitals  to  a  purist  in  diction. 
He  had,  however,  a  very  unaffected  love  of  candor  and  straight 
forwardness,  when  they  could  be  employed  without  impairing  his 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  321 

political  influence,  and  scrupled  not  to  express  his  honest  convic 
tions  on  select  occasions.  It  was  a  maxim  with  him  that  many 
things  might  rightfully  be  done  which  would  make  political  rela 
tions  more  symmetrical,  but  which  it  was  not  expedient  to  at 
tempt,  lest  the  advantages  already  secured  and  enjoyed  might 
be  hazarded  thereby.  Thus  there  was  an  apparent  inconsistency 
between  his  public  and  private  professions  which  his  enemies 
were  ever  swift  to  stigmatize,  but  which  did  not  prevent  his 
wielding  a  power  which  was  often  greatest  when,  to  the  common 
eye,  its  source  was  unseen.  Perhaps  the  chief  secret  of  his 
strength,  so  far  as  it  was  not  immediately  imputable  to  his  natu 
ral  powers,  lay  in  the  fact  that  such  great  numbers  owed  to  Mr. 
Clyde  their  political  advancement.  He  was  curiously  happy  in 
reversing,  for  his  own  purposes,  the  adage  which  makes  gratitude 
the  reward  of  favors  to  come.  At  least  he  made  those  which 
were  past  pay  a  very  fair  and  regular  rate  of  interest. 

"  I  believe,"  said  Gifford.  as  he  regarded  with  curiosity  a  man 
of  whose  political  exploits  he  had  heard  so  much,  "  I  believe, 
Mr.  Clyde,  that  you  have  never  held  office l?" 

"  I  I     Good  heavens  !     No.    Do  I  look  like  an  office  holder?" 

Hugh  was  obliged  to  confess  that,  so  far  as  his  individual  ex 
perience  was  concerned,  he  did  not.  Circumstances  had  lately, 
and  to  his  misfortune,  taken  Hugh  into  that  Milesian  close 
borough  on  a  large  scale  called  the  common  council  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  he  certainly  remembered  nobody  there  who 
looked  a  bit  like  Mr.  Clyde. 

"  If  I  had  ever  accepted  office  for  myself,"  continued  Mr. 
Clyde,  graciously  receiving  the  acknowledgment,  "  I  should  not 
now  be  in  the  same  position  to  command  it  for  others." 

"  That  seems  to  me,"  observed  Hugh,  smiling,  "to  be  a  dis 
interestedness  rather  at  variance  with  your  previous  explana 
tions." 

"  And,  as  I  don't  value  office  a  straw,"  Mr.  Clyde  went  on 
quietly,  "  while  others  value  it  very  much,  I  make  no  sacrifice  in 
escaping  responsibilities.  And  now  let  me  ask  you,  a  question  ; 
have  you  seen  Doke  ?" 

"Doke  ?    No.     Who  is  he,  pray  ?'.' 

"  Ah,  you'll  soon  see  him,  no  doubt.  I  thought  he  would  have 
called  before  now.  But  then  you've  been  absent  a  good  deal 
since  you  settled  in  your  new  house." 

"Yes,"  answered  Hugh,  coloring,  "  business  has  taken  me 
to  the  south  and  west ;  but  I  shah1  stay  in  town  now  for  the 
present." 

14* 


322  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"  Then  you'll  see  him,  without  question,  in  good  time.  You'll 
be  at  the  Egremont  Ball  ?" 

"  Oh,  yes.     I  promised  Mrs.  Parapet." 

u  A  very  good  thing  to  do.  Not  quite  so  select,  you  know, 
as  some  of  our  ultra-fastidious  ones  would  have  it,  but  you'll  find 
a  great  deal  to  amuse." 

"I'm  anxious  to  see  some  of  the  celebrities  of  the  day." 
"  To  be  sure.     The  Parapet  circle  is  quite  the  loftiest,  of  course, 
but  a  trifle  too  monotonous,  perhaps,  to  revolve  in  perpetually. 
Nothing  like  variety.     I  believe  in  social  rotations  as  I  do  in  offi 
cial  ones." 

."  Variety,  I  am  told,  is  quite  the  feature  of  the  Egremonts." 
"  And  so  it  is.     Not  indiscriminate,  you  know.     It  wouldn't 
be  fair  to  say  so  ;  but  they're  safe  to  give  you  a  very  tolerable 
idea  of  our  social  fabric.     You'll  find  it  quite  diversified  enough, 
considering  it's  a  democratic  one.     Light  and  shade,  color  and 
ornamentation,  enough  to  please  Mr.  Ruskin.     There's  sufficient 
variety  in  all  conscience,  before  you  get  up  to  the  Parapets." 
"And  yet,  as  you  say,  the  edifice  is  a  democratic  one." 
"  Politically,  my  dear  sir,  but  not  socially  ;  a  distinction  with 
a  difference,  which  no  one  can  better  expound  than  your  friend 
Mrs.  Parapet." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CRUSH,  glitter,  and  confusion.  A  paradise  of  silks  and  laces 
and  flowers,  from  which  glance  dazzling  eyes  and  snowy  shoul 
ders  and  dainty  feet.  A  paradise  of  light  and  movement,  mel 
odious  with  Verdi  and  oderous  with  Lubin.  A  paradise  of 
beauty,  with  houris  innumerable  floating  about  in  every  bewitch 
ing  phase  of  coloring  and  contour  that  dreams  present  to  us  or 
fancy  paints.  Mrs.  Parapet  spoke  most  truly  when  she  said 
the  Egremonts  always  had  shoals  of  pretty  girls.  And,  albeit 
the  expression  which  implied  multitude  might  also  have  con 
veyed  a  tincture  of  contempt,  I  for  one  am  religiously  of  opiniou 
that  shoals  of  pretty  girls  are  signally  conducive  to  the  eclat  and 
success  of  a  ball.  To  look  lovely  and  dance  well,  are  virtues 
which  no  vigor  of  intellect,  no  loftiness  of  soul,  can  compensate 
in  those  fleeting  hours  when  pretty  girls  at  once  play  havoc 
with  one  sex  and  revenge  themselves  on  the  other  for  that 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  323 

current  sneer  of  theirs,  that  beauty  must  ever  and  perforce  be 
brainless. 

But  the  Egremonts  had  something  besides  pretty  girls  to  boast 
of.  they  had  also  noble  rooms  to  show  them  off  in ;  lofty 
saloons,  where,  eschewing  old-fashioned  chandeliers,  light  came 
from  above,  and,  the  jets  concealed  by  cornices,  a  softened  re 
fulgence  spared  the  eyes  without  impairing  the  effect  of  ladies' 
toilets ;  saloons  in  long  suites  of  almost  regal  splendor,  and 
ending  hi  a  theatre  large  enough  to  hold  all  the  assembled 
guests ;  they  had  pictures  and  statues  of  sterling  merit,  which 
relieved  the  delicate  neutral  tints  of  the  walls ;  and  a  spacious 
conservatory,  which  afforded  the  charm  of  masses  of  green 
shade  and  the  perfume  of  natural  flowers  to  refresh  senses  which 
the  outer  radiance  and  artificial  odors  might  have  palled. 

Then  the  Egremonts  had  an  orchestra  probably  as  good  of 
its  kind  as  could  be  found  in  the  world — an  orchestra  which 
dealt  forth  dance  music  in  the  crispest  and  daintiest  of  styles, 
and  supplied  operatic  entr'actes  with  a  feeling  and  completeness 
which  quickened  imagination  and  stimulated  flirtation  quite  as 
much  as  was  desirable.  Moreover,  in  good  time,  viands  were 
forthcoming,  which  no  French  or  any  other  cuisine  could  be  ex 
pected  to  surpass ;  while  the  wines  were  such  that  more  fastidi 
ous  critics  than  the  majority  of  guests  were  likely  to  be  would 
have  been  more  than  content  with  them. 

•  As  Mr.  Clyde  had  prognosticated,  there  were  a  great  many 
celebrities  there.  People  noted  for  gold  were  perhaps  the  shin 
ing  lights,  but  there  were  others  whose  names  were  famous  in 
connection  with  law,  with  big  contracts,  with  houses  and  ships, 
with  high  offices  of  state,  with  long  railways,  and  fat  insurance 
companies ;  nay,  there  were  one  or  two  who  had  made  good 
books  and  pictures,  and,  not  over  agreeably  to  the  sensitive 
Parapetian  taste,  there  were  a  good  many  politicians.  Politics, 
however,  were  as  essential  as  mother's  milk  had  been  to  the  head 
of  the  house  of  Egremont ;  and,  to  do  him  justice,  he  was  liberal 
enough  to  invite  opponents  as  well  as  friends..  He  courts  yon 
der  great  lawyer,  who  thinks  Slavery  must  be  right,  because  he 
has  had  some  heavy  slaveholdiug  clients,  and  has  read  up  in  their 
interest,  no  more  than  he  does  Blurt,  the  great  sewing-machine 
man,  who  thinks  Slavery  must  be  wrong,  because  a  black  man 
he  once  had  in  his  employ  understood  the  binomial  theorem. 

The  truth  is,  the  master  of  the  house,  without  being  a  giant 
in  intellect,  has  an  essentially  kind  and  liberal  nature.  Even 
poor  poets  find  places  at  his  board — a  phenomenon  which,  it 
must  be  owned,  is  rarer  at  the  tables  of  the  rich  in  republics  than 


324  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;      OR, 

in  monarchies.  There  is  Prodder,  for  instance  ;  you  don't  know 
Prodder?  He  writes  little  articles  and  versicles  for  what  are 
called  "literary  weeklies,"  which  start  into  existence  with  a 
great  blaze  of  trumpets,  and  an  imposing  roll-call — Prodder's 
always  figuring  in  large  caps — and  die  in  a  few  weeks  after, 
without  even  the  poor  reverence  of  a  valedictory  dead  march 
for  the  burial  of  the  last  number.  Of  course  it  isn't  Prodder's 
fault  that  the  New  Yorkers  have  no  taste  for  any  sort  of  weekly, 
unless  in  the  style  of  a  feeble  cross  between  Reynolds's  Miscellany 
and  the  Sporting  Life.  And  yet,  perhaps,  if  he  had  saved  a  little 
vitality — whatever  else  he  may  have  exhausted  it  upon — so  that 
his  effusions,  always  respectable  in  other  respects,  had  not  been 
so  desperately  dry,  provincial,  and  prejudiced,  something  like  a 
sounder  taste  might  have  grown  up  ere  this  and  waxed  strong 
in  the  land.  However,  let  us  not  blame  Prodder  too  severely. 
He  is  the  product  of  his  latitude  and  his  age ;  and  if  his  latitude 
and  his  age  require  as  intellectual  pabulum  nothing  better  than 
vulgar  newspapers,  emasculated  poemlets,  and  political  sermons, 
let  them  have  their  meat  and  go  their  way.  There  are  worse 
men  than  Prodder  here,  for  all  his  blunder  in  thinking  the  gods 
have  made  him  poetical. 

Crash  goes  the  orchestra,  and  back  and  forth  swings  the  motley 
throng.  Through  a  gorgeous  fringe  of  it  comes  Hugh  Gifford, 
who  has  retained,  as  he  promised,  in  season  for  the  famous  ball. 
He  makes  his  way  through  a  brilliant  knot  of  officers — whom 
he  notices  particularly,  as  recognizing  in  several  the  shopmen 
who  attended  to  his  wants  when  making  sundry  small  purchases, 
at  various  times,  in  Broadway.  They  are  point-de-vice  now,  how 
ever,  and  think  no  more  of  shop  than  Gifford  himself  thinks  of 
Armstrong's  Bar.  Not  so  much,  perhaps ;  for  his  thoughts  did 
wander  thither  as  he  gazed  on  the  many  lovely  women  before 
him,  and  remembered  how  often  on  starlight  nights  he  had 
wandered  by  the  river  side  there  with  one  more  beautiful  than 
the  loveliest,  all  unaided  as  was  the  gem  by  the  fashion  and  cost 
liness  of  its  setting.  Hugh  ensconced  himself  behind  some 
shrubbery,  and  looked  for  a  while  on '  the  joyous  scene  in 
silence. 

"Not  sad  and  solitary  on  a  night  like  this,  surely?"  cried  a 
voice,  as  Mr.  Clyde  stepped  into  the  conservatory  by  his  side. 

"  Oh,  dear,  no.  Only  waiting.  It  is  a  gala  day  with  the 
Parapets ;  Clinton  has  returned,  quite  unexpectedly,  by  the 
Scotia,  and  Madame  mere  is  in  the  best  of  spirits.  I  promised 
to  meet  the  party  here  at  ten." 

"And  it  only  lacks  five  minutes.     Good  evening,  General; 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  325 

you're  looking  younger  than  ever,  I  protest ;  and  how  is  trade 
now  ?" 

"  Slack,  sir,  slack  ;  and  will  be  until  the  spring  season.  We're 
always  dull,  you  know,  after  the  river  closes,"  replied  a  dignified 
man  with  white  hair  and  epaulets.  The  general  was  a  boot  and 
shoe  dealer  down  town.  They  have  found  different  generals  of 
late  years. 

"Now,  Mr.  Clyde,"  cried  a  handsome  middle-aged  woman  in 
white  brocade,  sweeping  by  on  the  arm  of  an  Italian  singer, 
"are  you  going  to  oppose  Mr.  Mellish  for  the  Senate  this 
spring?  I  told  him  I'd  get  it  from  your  own  lips,  and  I  will." 

"  Ah,  my  dear  madam,  so  much  may  happen  between  now 
and  spring.  Why,  you  can't  even  tell  what  may  then  be  the 
fashion  in  bonnets  ;  how  then  can  $ou  expect  me  to  tell  what 
may  be  the  mode  for  senators  ?" 

"  But  only  just  listen.  Pray  forgive  me  an  instant,  Signor 
Bragoli.  That  cold-blooded  fish,  Bayman,  says  you're  dead  set 
against  him ;  and  that  you  declared  you'd  send  him  out  of  Albany 
ten  thousand  behind!" 

"  Indeed,  I  never  made  such  a  boast.  Believe  me,  if  I  intend 
ed  such  a  thing  I  should  never  trumpet  it  beforehand.  And 
as  to  Mr.  Bayman " 

"I  know;  the  little  sallow  wretch  thinks  only  of  himself.  I 
may  tell  Mr.  Mellish  you  won't  oppose  him  then  ?" 

"  Tell  him  I  never  thought  of  such  a  thing." 

"  He'll  be  so  grateful,  -for  if  you  don't  nobody  else  can." 
And  she  swept  on,  leaving  a  heavy  flavor  of  verbena  mingled 
with  the  geraniums  and  tea  roses  of  the  conservatory. 

"  Women  are  such  odd  creatures."  said  Mr.  Clyde,  softly, 
"  especially  when  they  turn  politicians.  She'll  tell  Bayman  the 
same  thing  of  me  before  the  night's  over,  and  wring  from  him 
an  assurance  which  will  be  equally  valuable  with  my  own.  And 
yet  Mrs.  Mellish  fancies  herself,  and  Indeed  has  the  reputation, 
of  being  a  very  female  Machiavel.  Have  you  danced  ?" 

"I promised  to  stand  up  first  with  Miss  Parapet." 

"Oh,  you  could  scarcely  do  so  with  a  more  lovely  partner." 

"  Miss  Parapet  is  certainly  very  handsome.  There  are  many 
lovely  girls  here,  but  none  I  have  seen  are  more  beautiful  than 
she  is." 

"  Have  you  seen  Miss  Dimity  ?" 

"No.     Who  is  she?" 

"Daughter  to  the  great  diy  goods  firm.  A  tall  girl — the 
finest  blonde  in  the  room.  Great  rush  for  her  since  the  new 


326  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

store  has  been  built  up  town.     But  they  say  nothing  in  trade 
will  do  for  her  now." 

"What!  Do  such  people  despise  the  ladder  whereby  they 
have  mounted  to  fortune1?" 

"  Certainly.  Kick  it  over  when  they  get  to  the  top  rung,  and 
pretend  they  never  mounted  it  at  all." 

u  But  in  a  democratic  community " 

"  My  dear  sir,  if  there  were  less  political  equality  among  us 
there  would  be  more  social  equality.  As  it  is,  every  one  is  dying 
to  get  among  the  Parapets,  and  to  achieve  the  reputation  of  do 
ing  nothing." 

And,  talking  of  their  majesties,  in  came  the  Parapets  at  this 
moment,  appropriately  heralded  by  a  grand  march.  They  always 
came  late  to  affairs  of  this  .sort,  and  went  early.  .  The  mystery 
of  their  existence  would  be  rudely  dispelled  were  they  to  make 
themselves  common  to  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar.  Sailing  augustly 
through  the  clouds  of  laces  and  satins,  decked  out  with  bouquets 
and  flashing  gems,  the  party  made  its  way  to  the  hostess,  who 
was  duly  crushed  by  the  honor  done  her ;  and  then  to  a  cor 
ner  where  Mrs.  Parapet  mounted  a  sort  of  throne,  where  she 
received  the  homage  of  a  select  few  who  were  permitted  to 
approach  it.  Clinton,  more  condescending  as  becoming  the 
younger  scion  of  royalty,  presently  mingled  with  the  rabble,  and 
established  a  violent  flirtation  with  Miss  Dimity.  That  young 
lady,  alive  to  the  opportunity  for  social  advancement,  hazarded 
something  at  a  favorable  moment  about  his  mother  and  sister ; 
but  Clinton,  quite  free  from  snobbery  as  he  was,  would  no  more 
have  dared  to  present  her  than  he  would  have  dared  to  present 
Mr.  M'Fenian.  There  was  a  despotism  which  not  even  the  au 
dacity  of  youth,  the  impulse  of  good  nature,  and  the  fresh  hold 
on  a  mother's  heart  gained  by  the  unexpected  return  from  abroad, 
could  venture  to  offend. 

Meanwhile,  Hugh  was  waltzing  away  in  fine  style  with  Edith 
Parapet,  and  all  was  going  merry  as  a  marriage-bell. 

More  arrivals,  more  silks  and  diamonds,  more  waltzes  of 
Strauss,  Lanner,  and  Labitzky,  and  more  pretty  women !  Just 
after  midnight-enter  the  Mayor  and  his  family.  His  honor  is  re 
puted  to  have  committed  every  sin  in  the  decalogue,  and,  unmind 
ful  of  the  old-time  axiom,  which  attributes  honor  to  thieves  who 
deal  with  each  other,  he  is  said  to  be  a  double-edged  glaive,  cut 
ting  both  friend  and  foe.  There  are  people  before,  behind,  on 
every  hand,  who  have  suffered  from  his  peculations,  and  the 
aggregate  public  worst  of  all.  Yet  he  is  received,  adulated, 
smiled  upon.  Oh  yes,  my  dear  sir,  for  you  must  know  he  is  an 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  327 

amazingly  smart  man,  and  weareth  a  robe  in  his  civic  chair  which 
covers  as  much  as  charity.  One  thing  in  fairness  let  us  admit — 
he  gets  no  recognition  from  the  Parapets.  He  may  wriggle  and 
finesse  as  he  likes ;  and  madam  mayoress  may  exhaust  her  mag 
azine  of  feminine  intrigues  and  devices,  but  into  that  charmed 
circle  they  get  no  entrance. 

"What  a  fearfully  mixed  assemblage  !"  murmurs  Mrs.  Para 
pet,  as,  with  brows  and  eye-glass  raised,  she  glances  hastily  at 
the  new  arrivals. 

"  Ah,  my  dear  madam,"  answers  the  gentleman  at  her  elbow, 
"what  can  you  expect  when  there  are  scarcely  any  occupations 
save  trading  and  cheating,  any  studies  save  of  cash-books  and 
ledgers,  any  aspirations  save  who  shall  be  richest!  The  ele 
ments  which  constitute  a  high-minded,  chivalrous,  and  cultivated 
society,  are  wanting  in  a  purely  commercial  community,  and  so 
must  they  ever  be." 

The  speaker  is  Mr.  Cabot,  a  fossil  beau  of  the  past  generation. 
He  saw  Washington  and  Hamilton  when  a  youth,  and  sat  at 
table  with  Carroll  of  Carrollton.  No  wonder  he  dislikes  the  peo 
ple  of  to-day. 

"  Clinton  is  dancing  too  much  with  that  yellow-haired  girl. 
I  don't  know  her,  so  of  course  she's  one  of  the  new  people's 
daughters." 

"  Any  one  could  detect  that  by  comparing  her  with  Miss  Para 
pet,"  said  the  old  gentleman,  with  his  courtly  bow.  "  There  are 
scores  of  handsome  young  women  now-a-days  to  a  single  really 
elegant  one." 

What  a  delicious  polka!  and  away  goes  Clinton  Parapet 
around  the  great  saloon  for  the  twentieth  time  with  his  new 
charmer,  and  until  she  is  quite  exhausted,  and  must  sink  upon  a 
fautcuil  in  a  cooler  room. 

"I  say,  Gifford,"  says  Clinton,  "  it's  deuced  hot!  Come,  Pinck- 
ney,  come  with  us.  You  get  no  supper  until  half-past  one,  you 
know.  Gifford  and  I  are  going  to  have  a  bottle  of  cham 
pagne." 

"  May  I  not  bring  you  an  ice  ?"  asks  Gifford  of  Edith  Parapet. 

"  Thanks,  yes ;  only  don't  remain  ;  but  pray  go  with  Clinton, 
for  I'm  sure  you  must  feel  the  heat." 

"  It  won't  be  uncomfortable  long,"  lisped  Wirt  Pinckney; 
"  Egremont  has  a  new  ventilating  apparatus,  and  can  fix  the  mer 
cury  exactly  where  he  likes  without  making  a  draught." 

"How  delightful!  Thank  you,  Mr.  Gifford.  Yes,  I  like 
vanilla ;  and  now,  do  go,  you  three,  and  get  your  champagne." 

"I  shan't  stay  long,"  exclaims  Clinton,  running  back  hurried- 


328  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

ly  to  his  charmer.  "  Remember,  Miss  Dimity,  the  schottische, 
please,  the  fourth  dance  from  this." 

"  Oh,  I  shall  be  sure  to  recollect,"  responded  the  young  lady, 
with  a  smile  all  the  more  fascinating  for  being  a  little  languid. 

"  Don't  dance  with  that  girl  any  more,"  whispers  Edith,  as 
her  brother  passes  her  again.  "Mamma  isn't  pleased,  and  papa 
has  just  come  in  from  the  club  with  Mr.  Stapleton." 

"  I  must  keep  my  engagement,  whatever  I  do." 

"Well,  but  after?" 

"After  will  be  supper  time." 

"I've  just  met  an  old  friend,"  remarks  Mr.  Clyde  to  Gilford, 
as  the  young  men  returned  from  their  champagne,  "  and  if  you 
like  I'll  introduce  you  to  a  ward  of  his,  a  young  lady  who,  to  my 
poor  bachelor  taste,  is  the  most  bewitching  at  the  ball.  Only 
you  mustn't  be  bewitched,  for  she's  engaged.  Will  you  come  f 

"  With  much  pleasure.  Just  permit  me  to  make  a  word  of 
apology  to  Miss  Parapet/' 

Which  done,  on  they  go  through  the  crowded  rooms,  now 
denser  than  ever  with  laces,  and  silks,  and  dazzling  eyes,  and 
complexions  radiant  with  exercise  and  excitement ;  and,  as  they 
go,  the  orchestra,  by  way  of  respite  from  the  long  continued 
dance-music,  strikes  up  some  tender  souvenir  of  Bellini's. 
Through  the  saloons,  under  arches,  across  corridors,  to  the  con 
servatory,  where  Clyde  first  accosted  him,  and  Gilford  finds 
himself  presented  to  a  tall,  suave-looking  man,  with  white  cravat 
and  frosty  locks.  He  misses  the  name,  but  hears  himself  intro 
duced  as  "My  young  friend,  Mr.  Gilford."  Then  some  one  in 
a  delicate  lemon-colored  silk,  with  rose-buds  in  her  hair,  glides 
forward  from  among  the  geraniums,  while  Mr.  Clyde  concludes 
the  ceremony  with : 

"  And  allow  me  to  present — Mr.  Gifford — Miss  Rooke." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GODWIN  thought  a  man  was  never  in  such  danger  of  missing 
the  applause  of  the  world  as  when  he  took  the  greatest  possible 
pains  to  deserve  it.  The  cynicism  is  gloomy  enough,  and  its 
inference,  if  generally  accepted,  would  surely  be  fatal  to  honest 
endeavor.  Perhaps,  like  many  wise  saws,  its  application  should 
be  limited  to  philosophers  ;  when  it  would  become  easy  and  not 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  329 

so  disheartening  to  recognize  its  truth.  The  author  of  "  Political 
Justice"  had  doubtless  some  reason  to  complain  of  a  world  which 
thought  it  had  many  to  complain  of  him  ;  but  the  judgments  of 
author  and  public  are  so  often  at  variance  respecting  the  compar 
ative  merit  of  works  as  to  make  it  strange  that  a  philosopher 
should  overlook  the  root  of  the  discrepancy.  Now,  Hugh  Gif- 
ford.  being  neither  author  nor  philosopher,  was  duly  astonished 
that  after  taking  the  utmost  possible  pains  to  find  Marian,  so  that 
he  really  felt  he  deserved  to  have  found  her,  she  should  sudden 
ly  rise  before  his  eyes  unsought  and  unexpected.  But  they  were 
in  veiy  decorous  and  very  observant  society  now,  so  that  they 
could  not  rush  into  each  other's  arms  had  they  been  so  minded. 
Neither  could  Marian  faint,  nor  Hugh  indulge  in  any  correspond 
ing  sign  of  emotion,  such  as  they  would  have  been  tree  to  in  the 
woods  or  prairies.  The  meeting,  so  far  as  words  went,  was 
most  prosaic ;  for  Hugh,  as  he  bowed  low  over  Marian's  ouk- 
stretched  hand,  merely  mumbled  something  inarticulate,  while 
Marian,  who  was  never  inarticulate,  said  simply  in  the  old  sweet 
contralto : 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you.*' 

"  You  have,  then,  met  before  ?"  said  Mr.  Clyde,  in  some  sur 
prise. 

"Oh,  yes,"' answered  Marian  steadily,  "we  are  very  old 
friends.  But  it  is  some  time  since  we  have  seen  each  other." 

"lam  fortunate  in  bringing  you  together.  And  since  you 
have  both  been  in  Europe  at  the  same  time  without  meeting,  you 
will  be  grateful  that  the  contretemps  is  not  repeated  hi  America." 

"You  have  been  in  Europe?"  asked  Marian  with  interest. 
"You?" 

"  Why  not?"  said  Hugh,  laughing.  "  You  always  told  me  I 
was  to  go,  you  know." 

"  But  that  was  to  be  after  you  had  made  your  fortune." 

"  Ah,  in  this  great  gossiping  city  one  is,  after  all,  so  obscure. 
You  have  not  heard,  of  course  ?" 

"Heard  what?" 

' '  Why,  Miss  Rooke  " — he  did  not  call  her  Marian  now, 
although  the  two  elder  gentlemen  had  strolled  away  hi  earnest 
conversation,  and  were  fairly  out  of  earshot — "Why,  Miss 
Rooke,  the  great  dream  is  accomplished  at  last,  and  I  have  made 
my  fortune." 

"  You,  Mr.  Giffbrd  ;  you  are  rich  '?" 

"Passably  so,"  returned  Hugh,  carelessly,  "  although  mine  is 
no  great  heap  of  lucre  compared  to  some  of  the  colossal  ones 
which  tower  around  me.  However,  I  don't  complain.  I  have 


330  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

my  house,  my  carriage,  and  more  than  enough  to  support  them 
with  dignity ;  more  than  I  ever  expected  to  possess — more  than 
I  deserve." 

"A  house  ;  a  carriage?" 

"  Which  I  keep  up  as  well  as  one  so  solitary  can." 

"Solitary?" 

"  Quite  so.  For  although  I  have  some  good  friends  who  are 
very  civil  to  me  in  their  houses,  my  own  is  lonely  enough.  The 
Parapets,  for  example " 

"Ah,  you  know  the  Parapets?" 

"I  owe  to  them  such  footing  as  I  have  in  this  slippery  world 
of  fashion." 

"Miss  Parapet  is  beautiful,  is  she  not?" 

''Most  people  call  her  so.  She  is  strikingly  graceful  and  well 
bred." 

"You  have  known  her  long?" 

"Not  long;  nor  any  such  as  she.  You  forget  I  am  quite  a 
nouveau  riche" 

"At  least  since  your  return  from  Europe." 

"Oh,  yes;  since  my  return  from  Europe." 

"And  how  long  were  you  there?" 

"  Nearly  a  twelvemonth.     I  returned  three  months  ago." 

"  And  when  did  you  leave  California  f 

"  Almost  immediately  before  that.  I  was  in  the  Eastern 
States  hardly  a  week  before  I  sailed." 

"And  our  friends  at  Armstrong's  Bar?" 

1 1  Were  all  well  and  happy  when  I  left  them ;  and  a  few 
weeks  ago  they  were  all  equally  well,  and  happier  still." 

"Why  happier?" 

"What,  of  all  things,  should  make  them  so?  They  are 
growing  richer.  Like  myself,  they  have  been  having  their  turn 
of  luck.  Doctor  Landale  writes  me  that  they  have  done  so  well 
that  the  Armstrongs  think  seriously  of  returning  and  settling, 
as  they  long  since  hoped  to  do,  on  the  old  family  place  at  Say- 
brook.  And  the  doctor  hopes  to  have  his  cottage  on  the  Clyde. 
And  pretty  Kitty  is  to  be  Mrs.  Railes  at  Midsummer,  and " 

"  Tell  me,"  interrupted  Marian,  to  whom  all  these  questions 
and  answers  had  been  vague  and  half  meaningless,  except  as 
they  drew  near  to  the  subject  which  most  absorbed  her  thoughts. 
Hugh's  last  statement,  suggestive  as  it.  was,  stimulated  an  im 
patience  which  now  overleaped  her  reserve.  "Tell  me,  then, 
Hugh  Gilford,  since  you  have  grown  rich,  where — where — is — 
Virginia  ?" 

Hugh's  countenance  fell.     "  I  will  tell  you  all  when  we  may 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  331 

see  each  other — without  interruption.  For  the  present  I  will 
only  say  that  we  met  directly  on  my  return.  The  family  ytill 
believed  me  poor.  It  was  arranged  that  a  year  should  elapse — 
another  year  of  probation.  That  year  has  barely  expired, 
and " 

"Now,  Miss  Marian,"  cried  Mr.  Rivingstone,  approaching, 
"my  friend  Clyde  here  claims  the  fulfilment  of  your  promise." 

"He  can  scarcely  forego  it,"  said  Mr.  Clyde,  "  since  it  is  his 
only  dance — his  sole  assertion  of  juvenility  for  the  evening — and 
Miss  Rooke  has  kindly  promised  to  lend  it  lustre." 

"  To-morrow,"  whispered  Hugh,  hurriedly,  ;'  if  I  may  call,  I 
will  finish  my  story."  And  "Mi.  Clyde  bore  off  his  prize  at  a 
moment  when  she  was  almost  inclined  to  show  fight  rather  than 
be  captured.  And  Hugh,  looking  after  in  a  dazed  and  helpless 
fashion,  watched  while  his  prairie  flower  mingled  with  the  choice 
exotics  of  the  ball-room,  putting  to  shame  the  sweetest  and  most 
attractive  among  them ;  at  least  in  the  opinion  of  one  connois 
seur  who  fancied  himself  a  qualified  judge. 

"You  have  known  Miss  Rooke  in  former  days,"  said  Mr. 
Rivingstone,  drawing  near  and  regarding  our  hero  with  in 
terest. 

"Yes.  In  the  west — in  California,"  replied  Hugh,  scarcely 
knowing  how  far  he  was  justified  in  referring  to  Marian's  pre 
vious  life. 

"Her  fate  seemed  rather  a  sad  one,"  continued  the  elder  gen 
tleman,  gravely,  "  although  not  more  so  than  that  of  many  by 
whom  it  was  equally  undeserved.  In  a  few  years  the  world  will 
marvel  that  things  could  occur  among  a  Christian  people  such  as 
would  disgrace  the  records  of  middle-age  barbarians ;  and  some 
will  deny  they  ever  existed.  But  Marian  Rooke  is  only  one 
among  hundreds  of  those  who  will  live  and  bear  witness  to  the 
truth." 

';  I  supposed  you  to  be  a  Southerner,''  observed  Gifford,  cau 
tiously. 

'•  I  have  lived  in  the  South  during  many  years  of  my  life,  else 
I  should  not  feel  competent  to  judge  it  so  freely.  There  is  more 
good  and  more  evil  there  than  most  Northerners  believe ;  and 
both  are  misrepresented.  What  with  philanthropists  who  get 
all  their  facts  at  second  hand  on  the  one  side,  and  bigoted  parti 
sans  who  would  suppress  facts  altogether  on  the  other,  the  South 
fares  ill,  I  think,  with  both  friends  and  foes  in  the  North.  But 
Miss  Rooke  has  enlightened  you." 

"  She  has  told  me,"  said  Hugh,  with  some  hesitation,  t;  enough 
to  convince  me  that  wrong  can  exist  in  the  South  as  foul  as  the 


332  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

bitterest  abolitionist  ever  painted.  But  perhaps  I  have  no  right 
without  her  license  to  refer  to  such  a  subject." 

"  She  has  spoken  of  you  before,  and  told  me  how  far  you  were 
in  her  confidence." 

"  Indeed  !" 

"  When  Mr.  Clyde  proposed  to  introduce  you  I  did  not  catch 
the  name,  but  identified  it  afterwards.  Marian  has  told  me 
much  of  you." 

"  Miss  Rooke  is  most  kind  to  hold  me  in  such  remembrance." 

"  She  was  interested  in  your  future.  She  looked  forward  to 
your  marriage — I  am  versed  in  your  private  affairs,  you  see — 
and  to  your  becoming  distinguished  hereafter." 

"  Distinguished  ?" 

"  She  thought  you  had  qualities  which  would  ripen  into  valua 
ble  ones  for  your  country.  A  great  politician  is  Marian." 

"I  should  scarcely  have  supposed,  did  I  not  know  to  the  con 
trary,  that  one  who  had  suffered  so  much  by  its  institutions 
would  feel  much  interest  in  the  country  which  fostered  an  d  per 
petuated  them." 

"  Ah,  women  are  so  different  from  men  in  that  respect.  Their 
inspiration  is  more  of  His  who  said,  '  They  that  are  well  need 
not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick.'  The  women  will  prove 
the  best  healers,  and,  in  good  time,  the  best  peacemakers  among 
us  after  all.  But  so  far  as  Marian  is  concerned,  she  has  no  un 
mitigated  complaint  to  make  against  her  country's  laws,  bad  as 
some  of  them  may  be." 

"  I  do  not  understand  you." 

"  Then  I  must  leave  her  to  finish  a  story  which  was  only  partly 
told.  To  change  the  subject — how  do  you  like  the  family  I  heard 
Clyde  mention  just  now  '?  How  do  you  like  the  Parapets  f 

"Why,"  answerered  Hugh,  who  thought  the  change  of  subject 
rather  abrupt,  "they  are  a  most  dignified  and  excellent  family. 
Highly  accomplished,  of  high  breeding,  and  superior  parts." 

"They  are  like  many  families  I  have  known  in  the  South  ; 
at  least  in  the  characteristics  you  cite.  But  my  Southern  friends 
were  not  faultless,  whereas  you  appear  to  think  the  Para 
pets " 

"I  did  not  say  so.  On  the  contrary,  however  impeccable  in 
a  moral  or  social  sense,  I  think  them  decidedly  at  fault  politically. 
Why,  do  you  know,  that  with  all  their  wealth,  lands,  influential 
position,  and  ancient  name,  so  far  as  the  public  service  is  con 
cerned,  they  positively  do '' 

"  Nothing,  I  know  ;  while  our  Southern  Parapets  do  every 
thing  ;  so  that,  although  working  in  different  directions,  they 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  333 

effect  about  an  equal  amount  of  mischief.  In  the  North  the 
higher  classes  are  unrepresented,  and  in  the  South  the  lower. 
Each  will  ultimately  be  forced  to  fulfil  the  neglected  duty  by 
agencies  whose  stress  will  be  the  more  irresistible  the  longer  they 
remain  dormant." 

"Our  Parapets  say,  'after  them  the  deluge.'  " 

"  And  so  say  their  Southern  prototypes.  But  like  the  prophet 
who  said  it  before  them,  they  may  yet  see  and  feel  the  storm  be 
fore  their  tenure  is  over.  But  here  come  one  of  them  to  check 
our  treason." 

''Excuse  me,  my  dear  fellow,"  cried  Clinton  Parapet,  coming 
up,  "  but  you  are  under  an  engagement  which  it  will  be  danger 
ous  not  to  fulfil  ;  and,  being  in  disgrace  myself,  I  am  well  fitted 
to  warn  you  of  its  pains  and  penalties." 

"  A  thousand  thanks.  I  have  been  thoughtless  indeed,  but 
through  uncommon  provocation.  May  I  beg  you,  sir,  to  offer 
my  compliments  to  Miss  Rooke,  and  to  say  that  I  assume 
her  permission  to  call  ?" 

>;  With  much  pleasure.  I  am  certain  she  will  have  much  to 
hear  and  to  tell." 

"By  Jupiter!"  exclaimed  Clinton,  as  the  two  young  men 
wound  then-  way  back  to  the  Parapet  throng,  "the  moun 
tain  has  come  to  Mahomet  after  all  I" 


CHAPTER  IX. 

GIFFORD  had  modestly  described  his  pyramid  of  gold  as  small 
compared  with  others.  It  was  not,  however,  so  small  as  to  fail 
to  attract  attention  and  homage.  The  very  day  after  the  great 
ball  brought  evidence  to  the  contrary.  His  presence  at  that  fes 
tivity  was  quickly  known  to  many  wistful  adorers  whom  his 
erratic  movements  hitherto  had  enabled  him  to  elude,  but  who 
now  congratulated  themselves  that  then'  victim  had  returned  to 
town  for  the  season,  and  could  not  hereafter  escape  their  toils. 

Upon  his  breakfast-table  Hugh  found  an  extraordinary  variety 
of  cards,  notes,  and  other  missives,  chiefly  from  strangers,  and 
which  excited  his  surprise  as  to  how  the  senders  could  even  know 
of  his  existence.  There  were  printed  suggestions  that  he  should 
buy  his  boots  at  the  store  of  the  general  officer  to  whom  he  had 
been  presented  the  night  before  ;  and  requests  that  he  should  pat- 


334  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

ronize  in  the  way  of  dry  goods  the  house  of  Dimity,  Drilling,  & 
Co  ,  the  senior  partner  being  the  parent  of  the  young  lady  who 
had  been  Clinton  Parapet's  for  such  an  unconscionable  number 
of  dances  on  the  same  occasion. 

There  were,  besides,  a  shop-card  of  Mr.  McFenian's  liquor 
establishment,  down  town,  and  a  package  of  election  tickets, 
containing  that  patriot's  name,  as  a  candidate  for  some  muniei- 
.pal  office  of  trust  and  emolument,  with  "McFenian's  Unap 
proachable  Mountain  Dew,  at  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  a  gallon," 
underlined  thereon ;  several  playbills  affixed  to  preposterous  eu 
logies  of  the  "  classic  and  scholarly  performance  of  the  Melan 
choly  Dane  and  the  Cardinal  Duke,''  by  an  artist  whose  classi- 
cality  must  have  been  culled  from  Sunday  newspapers,  and  whose 
scholarship  certainly  went  very  little  beyond  writing  his  name ; 
an  illustrated  exhibit  of  the  merits  of  the  "Matutinal  Regenera 
tor,  or  Croto-Columbian  Prize  Cocktail,"  strengthened  by  the 
names  of  one  hundred  statesmen,  divines,  heroes,  and  poets, 
who  had  been  rescued  through  profuse  indulgence  in  that  cordial 
from  the  couch  of  disease  and  decrepitude  to  attain  the  highest 
pinnacle  of  health  and  fame  ;  many  kindred  schedules  of  won 
derful  hair-dyes,  apple-papers,  life-restorers,  lip-salves,  seven- 
shooters,  water-cure  establishments,  and  electrical  machines ; 
together  with  a  handsomely-printed  statement  on  silver  paper,  to 
the  effect  that  there  would  be  an  auction  sale  of  some  of  the 
choicest  pews  in  the  Reverend  Dr.  Grade's  new  church,  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  that  day,  at  one  o'clock  precisely;  half  cash,  the 
balance  on  approved  bills  at  sixty  pr  ninety  days. 

But  what  struck  Hugh  as  the  oddest  among  these  remarkable 
productions,  was  an  enamelled  card  of  rather  large  size,  on  which 
appeared  the  figures  of  two  cherubs,  apparently  struggling  for 
the  possession  of  a  scroll,  each  having  got  hold  of  one  end.  On 
this  scroll  was  inscribed  in  a  text,  surrounded  by  flourishes,  the 
name  "  Salathiel  Doke."  When  our  hero  rose  in  the  morning 
he  found  one  of  these  cards  lying  on  a  chair  by  his  bedside,  and 
concluded  it  had  found  its  way  there  by  some  mistake.  But 
when  in  due  course  he  went  to  his  toilet-table,  he  discovered 
that  the  error  must  have  been  duplicated,  for  "  Salathiel  Doke" 
lay  there  as  well.  When  he  was  taking  his  bath,  the  steady 
Englishman  Hugh  had  engaged  as  a  sort  of  major-domo,  inti 
mated  through  the  door  that  Mr.  Doke  was  most  anxious  to  see 
him  ;  that  he  had  been  informed  Mr.  Gifford  was  not  yet  dress 
ed,  but  that  he  declared  he  would  wait ;  that  he  had  made  his 
way  into  the  reception  room  on  the  ground-floor,  where  he  was 
now  engaged  in  conversing  with  a  policeman  through  the  win- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  335 

dow  ;  and  should  he,  Dobson,  request  the  policeman  to  take  him 
away,  or  would  Mr.  Gifford  choose  to  see  him  ? 

Mr.  Gifford  chose  the  latter,  by  all  means  ;  since  he  had  heard 
the  name  mentioned,  not  disrespectfully,  by  his  friend  Mr.  Clyde. 
But  he  should  not  be  ready  to  see  any  one  for  some  time  ;  so, 
not  to  keep  him  waiting,  his  compliments,  and  would  Mr.  Doke 
be  good  enough  to  call  an  hour  hence  ?  To  this  proposal  Mr. 
Doke  was  pleased  graciously  to  assent,  although  he  favored  the 
imperturbable  Dobson  as  he  departed  with  the  expression  of  his 
wonder  as  to  what  folks  should  be  a  week  washin'  themselves  for. 
Reasons  for  such  a  want  of  sympathy  might  have  been  found 
with  no  veiy  minute  examination  perhaps,  but  Dobson  was  too 
anxious  to  get  the  pertinacious  visitor  out  of  the  house  before  his 
own  surveillance  should  be  withdrawn  in  favor  of  his  master's 
breakfast,  to  be  over  critical. 

Hugh  was  trying  to  read  a  leader  in  the  Optimist,  which  con 
sisted  chiefly  of  adjectives  and  personal  pronouns,  when  a  third 
pair  of  cherubs,  striving  to  rend  Salathiel  Doke,  were  presented 
to  him,  and,  without  waiting  to  be  asked,  the  gentleman  himself 
followed  Dobson  into  the  room.  He  was  a  short,  stoutish  man, 
with  a  large  beard,  which  should  have  been  grizzled,  but  which 
was  dyed  to  a  changeable  color.  That  is  to  say,  it  was  of  a  glit 
tering,  metallic  black  in  the  shade  or  by  candle-light,  and  a  mis 
cellaneous  sea-green  when  viewed  in  the  rays  of  the  sun.  This 
beard  was  suffered  to  grow  as  it  listed,  save  on  about  two  inches 
of  the  upper  lip,  where  it  was  carefully  scraped  off,  leaving  the 
flesh  livid  and  indignant  below.  Over  each  corner  of  the  mouth, 
therefore,  two  tufts  of  truncated  moustache  were  permitted  to 
flourish,  stiff  with  the  vigor  which  was  prohibited  from  develop 
ing  itself  elsewhere.  Mr.  Doke's  eyes  were  small,  and  would 
have  been  colorless  had  they  not  been  slightly  bloodshot ;  his 
nose  was  long  and  peaked,  but  enlarged  suddenly  at  the  base  of 
the  nostrils,  so  as  to  give  an  idea  that  sections  of  two  incongru 
ous  noses  had  through  some  accident  been  pieced  together.  The 
hair  was  cut  very  short,  and  stood  up  in  bristles  all  over  the 
,  head ;  and  the  mouth  was  armed  with  rows  of  short,  white  teeth, 
\  which  were  almost  constantly  displayed. 

Mr.  Doke's  expression  was  suggestive  of  the  hybrid  that  he 
was :  being  of  that  pleasant  compound  of  Jesuit  and  rowdy  which 
has  grown  to  be  something  too  prevalent  in  the  Atlantic  cities, 
and  which  is  not  prone  to  alleviate  the  effect  of  numbers,  by 
hiding  its  light  under  a  bushel.  The  general  results  which  ac 
crue  from  pouring  multitudes  of  ignorant  immigrants,  bound  by 
the  ties  of  common  nationality  and  religion,  into  the  crowded 


336  MARIAN   ROOKE  J    OR, 

streets  of  seaboard  towns,  instead  of  modifying  their  power  of 
mischief  by  scattering  them  over  the  boundless  prairie,  have 
now  been  sufficiently  felt  and  appreciated  to  need  no  description 
here.  One  of  those  results  was  Mr.  Salathicl  Doke ;  and  he 
was,  perhaps,  a  favorable  specimen  of  the  Americanized  Celt. 
Of  the  origin  of  his  name,  patronymic  or  other,  history  makes 
no  sign ;  but  the  Dennises  and  Patricks  and  Terences  usually 
die  out  in  the  second  republican  generation,  the  latter  dying 
harder  than  the  others ;  although  why  Irish- Americans  should 
cleave  to  a  prenomen  borrowed  from  an  African  slave,  is  an 
enigma  difficult  to  solve.  However,  the  present  Mr.  Doke  was 
innocent  of  such  a  taint,  and  probably  owed  his  Christian  name 
— if  the  term  be  not  inapplicable — to  a  progenitor  who  had 
learned  to  be  proud  of  the  fame  of  his  countryman,  Dr.  Croly. 
Like  the  prince  of  Naphtali,  Mr.  Doke  was  a  great  man  in  Is 
rael,  as  he,  in  good  season,  let  Gifford  understand  ;  but  the  lat 
ter  had  time  to  speculate  neither  on  his  visitor's  person  nor  his 
origin,  since  Mr.  Doke  instantly  attacked  him  in  a  manner  which 
compelled  the  adoption  of  a  vigilant  and  exclusive  defensive. 

"Ho!  ho!  ho!"  roared  Mr.  Doke  at  the  top  of  his  voice, 
and,  before  his  host  knew  what  he  was  at,  slapping  him  vigor 
ously  on  the  back,  "  How  are  yer  ?  Ho !  ho  !  ho !  managed  to 
crawl  out  o'  bed,  at  last,  have  yer?  I  bin'  down  to  Fulton 
Market,  and  eat  two  dozen  on  the  half-shell  at  Dorlon's  before  I 
come  here  fust,  I  did.  What  yer  doin'  with  them  things  ?"  and 
he  took  up  an  egg-cup  which  Hugh  had  been  in  the  act  of  using, 
and  capsized  the  contents  of  the  egg  into  a  saucer.  "  That's 
handier,  ain't  it  1  Ho !  ho !  ho !  and  how  are  yer,  anyhow  T' 

Gifford  was  so  taken  aback  by  the  assurance — the  elan  of  his 
assailant — so  persuaded  that  no  sane  human  being  would  accost 
another  in  such  a  way  unless  they  had  met  before,  that  he 
yielded  instinctively  to  the  impression  that  he  must  really  be  for 
getting  some  old  friend  whom  he  ought  to  remember,  and  found 
himself  responding  to  Mr.  Doke's  almost  superhuman  hand 
shakes  and  hyena-grins  before,  as  the  phrase  goes,  he  knew 
where  he  was. 

"  I'm  devilish  glad  to  see  yer,"  pursued  Salathiel,  with  a  fresh 
burst  of  laughter,  and,  wringing  his  host's  hand  with  frantic 
energy,  "That's  so.  Ha!  ha!  ha!  I  hain't  had  time  to  look 
at  the  paper  to-day;  let's  have  a  squint,"  and  he  took  the 
journal  from  Gifford's  knees.  "  Let's  see  what  the  gay  old  cuss 
has  to  say  for  himself.  Circulation  increased  ten  thousand  since 
yesterday.  Certingly,  nuthin'  shorter.  He's  a  lively  old  skunk, 
ain't  he  ?  Only  paper  there  is  though.  Only  paper  that's  posted 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  337 

on  the  true  distribootion  of  political  power,  and  writin'  just  the 
way  common  folks  talk,  so  they  can  always  understand  it. 
Highfalutin'  don't  go  down  for  papers  in  York.  Folks  hain't 
got  tune  to  study  'em  out.  Ha !  ha !  ha !  and  how  are  yer, 
anyhow  ?" 

"Well,"  said  Hugh,  beginning  to  recover  himself  at  last, 
"I'm  tolerably,  thank  you.  But  am  I  mistaken  in  supposing 
that  we  have  met  before  f 

"  Oh,  no,"  responded  the  other,  "  Oh  dear,  no.  We've  met, 
sure  enough.  Didn't  know  as  you'd  recollect  it,  though.  That 
smells  nice  now,  don't  it?"  and  Mr.  Doke  took  a  cigar  from  the 
mantel  and  quietly  lighted  it,  continuing  his  discourse  between 
the  puffs.  "  That's  genuine,  sure.  Some  folks  have  no  eye  for 
faces — I  have.  It's  part  o'  my  business.  Many  and  rnany's  the 
vote  I've  got  by  spottin'  a  man,  and  recollecting  his  name  just 
when  he  was  a  waverin'  after,  may  be,  takin'  his  V  from  both 
sides.  He  !  he !  he !  You  didn't  say  nothin'  about  bitters,  did 
yer?" 

"No,  I  didn't,"  answered  Hugh,  quietly ;  "  but  I  will,  if  you 
like.  Dobson,  a  bottle  of  brandy,  glasses,  and  Boker's  bitters. 
Pray  mix  for  yourself,  sir;  and  then,  perhaps,  you'll  tell  me 
whether  it  was  in  Boston  or  in  California — in  San  Francisco, 
perhaps — that  I  had  the  pleasure — 

"Oh  no,"  interrupted  Mr.  Doke,  "Oh  dear,  no.  I  don't  go 
out  of  York  if  I  know  it.  It's  a  good  enough  town  for  me.  I 
don't  count  it  a  true  sign  of  a  patriot  to  be  runnin'  about  from 
pillar  to  post  all  over  Ameriky  when  there's  such  a  rippin'  good 
burg  as  this  to  stay  in ;"  and  the  speaker,  by  way  of  emphasizing 
his  contentment,  hooked  a  second  chair  toward  him  with  his 
foot,  and  stretched  his  legs  thereon  in  great  ease  and  comfort. 

"Then,  may  I  ask  where?" 

"You  may  that.  I  met  yer  one  day  comin'  out  of  old  Car 
boy's  office,  in  Wall  Street.  I  was  there  to  get  his  assessment 
for  puttin'  through  the  Unscratched  Scallywag  ticket  for  the 
next  moonicipal,  and  you  was  there  to  buy  stocks.  We  met,  as 
they  say,  on  the  Ri-al-ter,  where  muchants  most  do  congregate. 
I  dunno  who  got  stuck,  but  it  weren't  me.  The  Scallywags 
was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  and  if  you  was  histed  on  Erie 
or  Harlem  it'll  be  because  old  Carboy  is  too  many  for  yer.  Ha  I 
ha  I  ha  1  better  luck  next  time.  My  respecks  " 

"  Thank  you.  You'll  excuse  my  restricting  myself  to  coffee, 
as  I  don't  take  spirits,  and  hardly  feel  the  need  of  a  tonic  so 
early  in  the  day.  I  have,  I  believe,  the  pleasure  of  addressing 
Mr/DokeT 

15 


338  MARIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 

"  That's  so.  S.  Doke  in  general,  Sal  Doke  among  the  b'hoys, 
Colonel  Doke  at  Gammony  Hall,  Salathiel  Doke,  Esquire,  on 
School  Committees  and  in  the  papers.  You  can  take  yer 
chice. " 

Hugh  bowed.  "  Well,  Mr.  Doke,  perhaps  you  will  now  tell 
me  how  I  can  serve  you." 

"  Ho !  ho !  ho  !  That's  reversin'  the  ingine,  that  is.  Howlin* 
good  cigars  o'  yourn.  I'll  take  a  few  if  you  don't  mind.  Serve 
me.  He !  he !  he  !  That's  votin'  the  ticket  backwards ;  putting 
the  cart  before  the  horse.  Why,  Judge,  I  come  here  to  serve 
you  /" 

Hugh  bowed  again.  "I'm  greatly  obliged,  I'm  sure, 
only " 

"  Only  you  don't  see  how  I  can !  Don't  put  too  fine  a  point 
on  it !  Ha !  ha!  ha !  You  don't  see  how  I  can." 

"Why,  you  perceive  in  my  ignorance  of  your  profession  and 
influence " 

"  Sech,"  interposed  Mr.  Doke,  settling  himself  more  com 
fortably  by  throwing  one  leg  over  the  arm  of  his  chair,  and 
ejecting  his  smoke  in  half-benignant,  half-speculative  puffs — 
"  Sech  is  fame ;  a  man  invents  a  patent  back-action  bowie  slicer, 
or  scribbles  a  voloom  of  peek-a-boo  pomes,  and  his  name  is 
girdled  round  about  the  airth  in  forty  minutes — is  big  in  mouths 
of  widest  censor !  But  direct  the  politics  of  a  great  metropolis 
— reggerlate  the  internal  affairs  of  a  million  haughty  and 
screechin'  freemen — manipoolate  every  ticket  for  three  years  in 
the  Gammony  interest,  kerryin'  even  the  unterrified  Sixth  in  the 
holler  of  yer  hand,  until  yer  consoomate  the  triumph  of  liberty 
in  an  overwhelmin'  majority  for  the  whole  ticket  of  Unscratched 
Scallywags,  and  then  not  to  be  heard  tell  of  !  Why,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  it's  enough  to  make  a  man,  however  patriotic,  blush  for  the 
advertisin'  mediums  of  the  community  he  has  served  !  Enough 
to  make  him  abandon,  in  disgust,  the  service  of  that  public 
which  has  proved  so  ungrateful,  and  devote  to  his  own  private 
aggrandizement  the  talents  so  imperfectly  requited !" 

"  As  I  am  and  have  been  an  utter  stranger,"  began  Hugh, 
apologetically,  "  and  scarcely  know  a  dozen  names  in  the 
city " 

"-It  is  the  cuss,"  continued  the  orator,  waving  his  hand  as  if 
to  deprecate  any  interruption  to  his  peroration — "  It  is  the  cuss 
of  Republican  communities  that  they  are  prone  to  be  ungrateful ; 
it  should  be,  above  all  others,  our  endeavor  to  wipe  out  that  re 
proach,  so  far  as  it  is  applicable  to  the  case  of  our  heroic  fellow- 
citizen,  Colonel  S.  Doke.  That,  sir,  is  an  extract  from  a  speech 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  339 

made  in  the  walls  of  Gammony  by  Erin's  pure  and  high-souled 
orator.  Phoenix  O'Grady,  when  candidate  for  City  Attorney,  I 
bein'  Chairman  of  the  Nominating  Committee." 

"I've  heard  complaints  that  Mr.  O'Grady  permitted  some 
heavy  claims,  due  the  city  from  individuals,  to  lapse ;  and  that 
his  laches,  however  influenced,  cost  New  York  a  million  or  more 
of  money." 

"  A  base  fabrication,"  exclaimed  Doke,  frowning  sternly,  "in 
vented  by  the  nigger-worshippers,  who  hate  O'Grady,  for  his 
advocacy  of  the  interests  of  his  noble  and  enlightened  country 
men.  However,  that's  neither  here  or  there.  Comin'  more  im- 
mejiately  to  the  question  before  the  meeting,  I've  heard  tell  of 
you,  sir,  if  you  haven't  heard  tell  of  me." 

"Pardon  me.  I  have  heard  of  you,  Mr.  Doke,"  said  Gifford, 
soothingly,  "  through  my  friend,  Mr.  Clyde.  I  merely  intended 
to  express  my  ignorance  of  your  particular  station  and  pur 
suits." 

"Oh,  Eldon  talked  about  me,  did  he?"  inquired  Mr.  Doke, 
somewhat  mollified. 

"  He  spoke  of  you  as  a  celebrity." 

"  I  reckon  he  might  without  setting  him  back  any.  Why,  do 
you  know,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  me,  he'd  never  kerned  out  that 
precious  little  game  o'  his,  that  ended  in  nominatin'  Spidershank 
and  upsettin'  the  Locomotive  Bill  ?" 

"No,"  marvelled  Gifford,  quite  innocent  of  the  whole  affair  ; 
"  wouldn't  he,  though?" 

"  Fact,  While  he  fixed  the  legislate,  I  cooked  Gammony. 
And  neither  of  'em  could  have  worked  without  the  other." 

"I  see." 

"The  Silver-grays  and  the  Dough-heads  could  pull  together 
for  once,  you  know,"  added  Mr.  Doke,  explanatorily,  "when 
there  was  so  much  money  in  a  thing.  But,  now,"  said  the 
speaker,  waving  aside  all  previous  subjects  of  conversation,  and 
mixing  another  cocktail  to  go  on  with — "now,  about  your 
affair." 

Mr.  Doke  paused  for  a  reply;  and  Hugh,  seeing  one  was 
expected,  waited  a  moment  or  two,  and  then  asked  vaguely, 
"Whataffiiirf" 

"Ha !  ha !  ha !  That's  a  good  'un !  I  take  it  there's  only  one 
kind  of  affair  in  whicE  the  services  of  Salathiel  Doke  is  requisite. 
Here  you  are  surrounded  by  gilded  luxury,  havin',  as  I  may  say, 
the  entry  to  good  society,  and  requirin'  only  one  thing  to  com 
plete  the  advantages  of  your  position.  Only  one  thing  you 
need,  and  for  that  the  assistance  of  Doke  is  indispensable." 


340  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"  I  am  still  in  the  dark." 

"Look  a  hear!  Be  you  a  patriot?  Be  you  anxious  to  serve 
your  country  ?  Does  your  bosom  swell  with  a  lofty  desire  to  be 
a  leader  among  men  1  Would  you  admire  to  have  your  name 
writ  high  in  the  annals  of  history?  If  that's  so,  Doke's  your 
man." 

"I  begin  to  perceive." 

"  I  allowed  you  only  wanted  one  thing — havin',  as  you  may 
say,  youth,  health,  and  wealth — only  one  thing  is  needed  in  our  jj 
happy  land  to  finish  off  the  sum  of  human  felicity ;  but  one  1 
thing — office.     To  that  giddy  height,  Doke's  is  the  hand  that 
can  smooth  yer  way."- 

"  But  to  what  kind  of  office,"  asked  Hugh,  doubtfully,  "do  you 
refer?  and,  supposing  a  candidate  to  be  qualified,  upon  what 
conditions  are  your  services  proffered  ?" 

Mr.  Doke  smiled.  There  was  a  refreshing  simplicity  to  his  in 
durated  and  experienced  mind,  both  in  the  idea  of  any  particular 
qualification  being  essential  to  a  candidate's  success,  and  in  that 
that  there  could  be  any  possible  obscurity  as  to  the  conditions 
to  be  exacted  for  assuring  it.  He  gazed  upon  Gifford  for  a  while, 
with  something  of  that  mingling  of  pity  and  contempt  where 
with  an  old  campaigner,  worn  and  battle-scarred,  regards  the 
juvenile  recruit  whose  toils  and  hazards  are  all  before  him. 

"  Look  a  hear  !"  he  said  at  length,  "  there's  different  kinds  of 
offices,  and  there's  different  kinds  o'  ways  to  get  at  'em.     It's 
just  like  this,"  and  he  drew  from  his  pocket  five  silver  coins,  and 
laid  them  on  the  table  ;  a  half  dime,  a  dime,  a  quarter  dollar,  a 
half  dollar,  and  a  dollar.     "  This  'ere  kitten's  eye  stands  for  a 
little  berth  like  common  councillor,  or  school  commissioner — same 
as  I  am.     This  one  next  to  it  might  be  an  alderman,  or  even  a 
surrogate.     The  quarter  dollar  signifies  p'raps  a  representative 
to  the  state  legislatur,  or  some  minor  state  office.     The  half  is  a 
state  senator,  or,  may  be,  congressman.     Finally,  the  big  feller 
is  a  United  States  senator,  or,  possibly,  a  governor.     These  are 
just  for  signs.     Now,  the  higher  the  office,  the  wider  is  the  circle  . 
which  has  to  be  worked,  the  more  wires  there  is  to  pull  to  work  j 
it,  and  the  more  it  costs  to  pay  for  hands  to  pull  'em.     That's  all  ! 
there  is  about  it." 

"  And  do  you  mean  to  say,"  said  Hugh,  with  some  indignation, 
"  that  a  man  who  cherishes  the  honorable  ambition  to  serve  the 
country,  in  either  of  these  capacities,  must  pay  money  in  this  grad 
uated  scale  to  achieve  it  *?" 

"  Ha  !  ha  !  ha!"  roared  Mr.  Doke.  "  Did  you  ever  get  any 
thing  of  vally  yet  without  payin'  for 't  1  D'ye  suppose  men  are 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  841 

going  to  all  the  labor  and  expense  of  ward  and  country  organiza 
tions,  payin'  the  rent  of  halls,  and  whole  fort-ins  in  printin',  and 
banners,  and  transparencies,  let  alone  the  mm  of  half  the  fightin' 
men  in  the  district,  and  black  mailin'  the  papers,  and  takin'  the 
risk  now  and  again  of  stuffin'  a  ballot  box,  just  for  the  sake  of 
amusin'  theirselves  ?  Go  way  !  you  ain't  no  baby  to  swallow 
sech  stuff  as  that !" 

.  "Why,  as  to  necessary  expenses  in  election  time,"  modified 
Gifford,  "they  may  be  all  right  and  proper  ;  but  bribery  and 
corruption  in  a  free  country  like  this " 

"  He !  he !  he  !  Don't  let  any  of  the  Gammony  boys  hear  yer 
talk  that  way,  if  we  set  out  to  run  yer  in  one  o'  the  city  districts. 
They'd  reckon  yer  a  Dead  Beat — a  psalm  singin'  blower,  they'd 
call  yer,  that  won't  come  down.  Necessary  expenses !  Election 
time  !  He  !  he  !  he  !  Why,  the  expenses  are  runnin'  always, 
in  election  tune  or  out  on't.  Only  when  votin'  day's  comin'  on 
the  cash  is  paid  up,  'cause  then  it  goes  further,  and  tells  more !  I 
know  they  work  it  different  up  in  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  rest  o' 
them  old-fashioned  back  counties,  where  they  put  on  their  Sun- 
day-go-to-meetins  to  vote  in,  and  shut  up  the  toddy  shops  ;  but 
sech  ways  don't  go  down  in  York.  York's  a  live  town,  I  tell 
yer  !  That's  so.  And  pint  early,  and  pint  often,  is  the  motto 
for  them  who  want  handles  to  their  names,  or  to  finger  the  peo 
ple's  money  !" 

"In  a  word,  Mr.  Doke,"  said  Hugh,  impatiently,  "what  do 
you  propose  L?" 

Mr.  Doke  peered  at  his  host  mysteriously  for  a  space,  without 
speaking,  and  then  glanced  rapidly  about  the  handsome  apartment 
with  the  apparent  design  of  taking  an  auctioneer's  inventory  of 
its  contents,  before  he  replied  : 

"  Slick  house  this  o'  yourn,  ain't  it  1" 

"  It  is  a  very  comfortable  one." 

"  How  much  might  it  have  cost  yer,  now  ?" 

Hugh  laughed,  but  answered  the  question. 

!"  You're  a  pooty  rich  man,  ain't  yer  ?" 
"  Pray  what  has  that  to  do  with  our  discussion  ?" 
"  Only  that  I  don't  want  to  be  onreasonably  hard  on  yer.     I 
ain't  one    o'  these  'ere  kind  o'  men  who  want  all  the  fat  ;  and 
what  I  say,  I'll  do.     Make  up  yer  mind  what  sort  o'  nomination 
'11  suit,  and  in  about  ten  days  I'll  tell  yer  what'll  be  the  finger.*1 
"  You  mean  how  much  I  must  pay  to  secure  the  nomination  ?" 
"Well,  not  to  cipher  it  too  fine,  that's  about  the  way  to  put  it. 
Only  don't  take  my  word  for  anythin'.     Just  ask  Mr.  Clyde,  or 
any  other  man  posted  in  politics,  and  satisfy  yourself  what  Doke 


342  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

can  do  before  you  trust  him.  Don't  take  nothin'  on  any  one 
man's  word.  That's  my  style.  How  does  it  suit  you  f 

"  It  seems  prudent  enough  ;  especially  in  so  delicate  an  affair. 
As  a  matter  of  curiosity,  now,  Mr.  Doke,  at  what  would  you  ap 
praise  the  congressional  nomination  for  the  — th  district '?" 

"  You  mean  the  figger  ?  Well,  now,  it's  a  thing  that  has  to  be 
gone  into  some  to  get  it  exact.  You  see  there's  generally  a 
kind  of  double-barrelled  arrangement  ;  one  for  the  nomination, 
the  other  for  election.  Of  course  the  Hall  can  insure  the  first, 
but  the  second  is  more  expensive,  likewise  more  uncertain.  I 
couldn't  tell  you  percise,  not  right  off ;  I  couldn't,  really.  It's 
hard  times  just  now,  that's  a  fact ;  and  one  o'  the  Sachems  is  put 
ting  up  a  new  block  on  his  Central  Park  property ;  and  another's 
bought  out  the  Rising  Star  Brewery,  half  on  time.  I  allow  it's 
likely  to  be  steep  ;  but  I'd  rayther  not  name  any  thin'  ontil  we've 
both  had  time  to  turn  it  over." 

"Very  well,  Mr.  Doke,"  said  Gifford,  rising,  "  I  will,  as  you 
suggest,  take  the  matter  into  consideration  ;  you  can  do  the 
same,  and  we  can  compare  notes  hereafter." 

"All  right.  No  harm  done,  anyhow.  I  heard  you  had  some 
leanin's  towards  public  life,  and  that  bein'  in  my  line  I  just 
thought  I'd  call.  Dreadful  good  brandy  o'  yourn.  Ha!  ha! 
ha !  My  respects.  Excuse  my  French.  You  talk  with  Mr. 
Clyde,  and  ask  him  what  Doke  can  do.  He'll  tell  yer  I  ain't  one 
o'  these  'ere  kind  o'  men  who  go  about,  blowin'  about  what  they 
can't  do  !  He !  he  !  he !  Thank  yer,  I  don't  care  if  I  do  take 
another  cigar." 

"Take  a  dozen." 

"Well,  since  yer  so  pressin'  I  think  I  will.  Shan't  get  such 
weeds  up  to  Jones's  Wood — that's  where  I'm  going — mass 
meetin'  of  laboring  men,  to  protest  against  wastiii'  the  public 
money  on  a  new  system  of  drainage.  Spohr  Hall,  yer  know. 
Oppersition  ;  but  we're  goin'  to  split  a  ticket,  and  fetch  in  our 
own  men.  Ho!  ho!  ho!" 


"  Good  morning,  Mr.  Doke.' 


"Mornin*.  Only  one  word  more  to  say,  and  the  best  of 
friends  must  part.  Only  one  word — Mum!"  and  Mr.  Doke 
pressed  his  forefinger  to  his  prepossessing  mouth.  "We'll  do 
business,  I  don't  doubt.  He!,  he!  he!  I  always  do  business 
with  men  o'  the  right  kind !  Only  Mum  !  you  know  ;  except, 
of  course,  inquirin'  as  to  character,  and  so  forth.  I  don't  fear 
that  sort  o'  scrootiny.  And  when  yer  posted  on  Doke,  I'll  say, 
for  further  pettikilars  see  small  bills  !  Ho  !  ho  !  ho !  So  good 
bye,  Mr.  Gifford  !  Good  mornin' !" 

And  the  political  aspirant  was  left  alone  with  his  Optimist. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  343 


CHAPTER  X. 

"  You  think  my  conduct  culpable,  then  ?" 

"  To  be  candid,  I  do  not  quite  approve  it.' 

"Would  you  have  had  me  tell  all  at  the  first  greeting ;  walk 
blindfold  into  an  ambuscade  ;  feeling  that  rocks  were  there,  drive 
on  to  certain  shipwreck  ?" 

"  Who  can  ever  tell  the  effect  of  confidence ;  whether  it  might 
not  have  dispersed  the  hidden  enemy — have  melted  the  rocks  ? 
Alas  !  In  all  such  cases  do  we  not  judge  after  the  event  ?  Which 
shall  boast,  '  See  I  have  escaped  such  a  danger,'  when  a  nobler 
course  might  have  obviated  it  altogether,  and  no  one  suffered 
wrong?" 

"  You  think  I  have  inflicted  a  wrong  then ;  you  think  me 
wicked — a  criminal." 

"  I  do  not  say  that.  Perhaps  you  are  entirely  right.  Your 
opportunities  to  judge  were  surely  of  the  best.  I  only  said,  since 
you  asked  me  the  question,  and  viewing  the  subject  with  such 
lights  as  I  have,  that  I  did  not  quite  approve  the  course  you  had 
pursued." 

Hugh  rose  and  paced  the  room  impatiently.  He  had  told 
Marian  the  whole  story  of  his  adventures  since  they  had  parted. 
Of  how  he  amassed  his  fortune,  and  how  a  foolish  man  had 
achieved  what  half-a-dozen  wise  ones  had  failed  in  when  he  help 
ed  him  to  gain  it.  Of  how  he  had  returned  all  flushed  with  his 
new-born  wealth,  only  to  hide  its  every  sign  in  the  old  haunts, 
and  among  the  old  friends,  where  it  would  have  been  hailed  with 
loudest  rapture.  Of  how  he  had  used  this  touch-stone  of  pov 
erty  to  test  the  affection  of  Virginia  Chester ;  and  had  found  it, 
as  the  quick  event  so  clearly  proved,  to  be  no  current  coin. 
Tush  I  Gifford  knew  perfectly  well — instinctively—that,  what 
ever  Marian's  feelings,  she  would  not  approve  of  the  episode  in 
question.  It  is  true  that  when  he  came  to  its  recital,  he  suffered 
himself  for  a  few  fleeting  moments  to  be  deceived.  Deceived 
by  a  wondrously  beautiful  blush  which  ran  swiftly  up  to  Marian's 
brow,  and  was  followed  by  a  marble  paleness,  when  she  first 
heard  that  Virginia  was  wedded  to  another,  and  Hugh  Gifford  a 
free  man.  But  this  transitory  emotion — the  sign  merely  of  feel 
ing — was  no  true  index  of  the  decision  of  her  judgment — no 


344  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

mark  that  her  sense  of  justice  could  be  blinded  or  misled.  Ma 
rian's  first  and  strongest  instinct  was  an  abhorrence  of  deception. 
No  one  had  ever  hurt  or  pained  her  in  all  her  laughing  days  of 
childhood — in  all  her  happy  days  of  girlhood — up  to  the  moment 
of  the  catastrophe,  whose  shadow  was  sharp  and  black  indeed, 
but  too  sudden  to  reverse  the  habits  of  a  whole  previous  life. 
That  poor  Hugh's  experience  had  left  him  less  ingenuous,  and 
so  less  ready  to  sympathize  with  or  to  participate  in  this  par 
ticular  virtue,  we  need  not  now  enforce.  But  he  had  not  been 
near  Marian  for  many  months  in  daily  and  familiar  intercourse, 
he  had  not  loved  Marian  so  deeply  for  most  of  those  months, 
without  cherishing  in  his  breast  a  monitor,  sometimes  dormant, 
sometimes  watchful,  but  never  absent,  which  told  him  unerring 
ly  what  that  pure  nature  of  hers  would  denounce  as  wrong,  and 
what  it  would  permit  to  pass  unchallenged.  When  he  had  prac 
tised  his  ruse  with  Virginia,  the  monitor  was  dormant ;  but  when 
the  story  was  passing  from  his  lips  to  Marian's  ears,  the  monitor 
was  cruelly  active.  So  Hugh  adopted  man's  frequent  and  most 
rational  argument,  and  tried  to  stifle  its  voice  by  getting 
angry. 

"Your  scruples  are  too  fastidious,"  he  complained,  "to  apply 
to  the  realities  of  life.  By  what  law  of  right,  what  precept  of 
conscience,  should  a  man  be  obliged  to  incur  the  risk  of  his  life's 
happiness  rather  than  by  a  harmless  experiment  to.  satisfy  him 
self  whether  he  is  about  to  place  it  in  safe  keeping  1" 

"  What  is  right  is  never  too  fastidious,"  said  Marian,  gently ; 
"  and  the  Golden  Rule  suggests  both  the  law  and  the  precept 
that  you  ask  for." 

"  I  should  not  shrink  from  such  an  ordeal,  if  applied  to  my 
self." 

* '  How  could  you,  since  from  the  conditions  of  the  case  you 
would  be  ignorant  of  its  application  ?" 

"  I  mean  as  regards  the  time  of  probation." 

"If  you  were  purposely  kept  in  ignorance  of  its  real  object?" 

"  If  my  love  were  sincere,  that  could  make  no  difference." 
•  "  You  have  hit  it  at  last.  If  your  love  were  sincere!  Ah,  my 
friend,  had  your  love  been  sincere,  you  never  had  tried  such  an 
experiment.  The  love  which  is  sincere  would  have  accepted 
all,  and  doubted  nothing.  Your  fears  as  to  Virginia's  motives 
were  but  the  reflexes  of  your  own  inconstancy !" 

"Even  admitting  this — for  argument's  sake — wherein  am  I 
so  culpable,  since,  had  she  been  faithful,  I  was  bound  to  keep  my 
promise  ?" 

"Because  you  subjected  her  to  a  temptation  for  which  you 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  345 

had  no  warranty.  Because,  when  she  plighted  her  troth  and 
you  reciprocated  the  pledge,  it  was  a  compact  between  erring, 
finite,  human  beings,  and  not  between  spotless  angels.  Be 
cause  there  was  no  condition  annexed  that  either  party  should 
proye  to  be  perfection  in  the  hour  of  trial ;  but  that  they  would 
each  strive  then*  feeble  best  to  approach  it.  You  knew  well 
what  influences  surrounded  Virginia — influences  which  had  sur 
rounded  her  from  her  birth.  You  knew  that  if  those  influences 
tended  to  produce  a  moral  warp,  especially  objectionable,  your 
duty  was  to  seek  to  counteract  it.  What  did  you  do  ?  Pre 
cisely  what  was  calculated  to  encourage  the  perversion  and^in- 
sure  its  catastrophe !" 

"  Enough.  Marian.  I  remember  we  have  been  over  such  a 
ground  as  this  before.  I  might  have  known  how  severely  you 
would  judge  me,"  he  added,  bitterly. 

"  I  was  your  adviser  then,  and  if  now  your  judge,  only  a  self- 
imposed  one." 

"  I  pleaded  then  as  I  plead  now,  that  there  was  one  thing 
wanting  which  made  your  advice  so  difficult  to  follow.  Do  you 
remember  it  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  Marian,  with  a  heightened  color,  "  I  do  remem 
ber  it.  On  the  same  occasion  it  was  agreed  that  we  should 
always  be  friends." 

"Friends!" 

-  And,"  she  continued,  steadfastly,  "  as  nothing  was  said  to 
make  us  otherwise  then,  so  I  hope  nothing  will  make  us  other 
wise  now." 

4i  Friends!"  he  repeated.  "  Always  friends!  Oh,  Marian, 
Marian,  can  we  never  be  anything  more  ?" 

The  girl  did  not  answer,  but  turned  very  pale,  as  one  does 
when  a  crisis  is  coming  which  cannot  be  averted,  when  nothing 
can  be  thrown  away,  not  even  words,  without  weakening  that 
brace  of  the  nerves  which  is  needed  to  meet  the  expected  strain. 
Her  lips  slightly  parted,  as  they  always  did  at  moments  of  strong 
excitement;  and  her  bust  heaved  up  and  clown  as  does  the 
breezeless  sea  in  sympathy  with  the  still  distant  but  approaching 
storm.  Beautiful  was  Marian  always ;  but,  like  all  things  not 
quite  passionless,  more  beautiful  in  action  than  in  repose. 

'•Can  we  never  be  anything  more ?  Is  that  cold,  cold  word 
to  be  used  now  that  there  is  no  bar  between  us  ?  Are  all  our 
hours  of  sympathy,  whispers  of  consolation,  the  sweet  dreams 
of  beauty  and  happiness  which  gilded  our  coarse,  mean  lives. 
those  very  lives  themselves  risked  and  redeemed  side  by  side, 
are  these  to  bring  no  softer,  warmer  fruit  than  icy  friendship  ?" 


846  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"What  would  you  have,  Hugh?"  she  whispered  mechani 
cally,  almost  inaudibly. 

; '  What  would  I  have  ?"  he  echoed,  marking  with  eager  de 
light  those  signs  that  seemed  to  say  he  would  not  ask  in  vain. 
""Hear  the  woman  !  as  if  she  did  not  know  and  feel,  in  her  in 
most  soul,  better  than  words  can  teach  her.  What  would 
I  have  ?  Oh,  Marian,  can  it  be  that  you  do  not  know  ?  Not 
know  that  I  love  you  deeply,  passionately,  eternally ;  and  would 
have  you  love  me  in  return?" 

"  This  fire  is  too  swift,  too  sudden,"  she  murmured,  her  face 
dyeing  crimson,  and  paling  rapidly  again.  He  caught  her  hand, 
which  she  vainly  strove  to  free. 

"Swift!  sudden!  Why,  it  has  been  burning  for  years  !  Is 
it  not  more  than  two  since  we  toiled  together  through  the 
heart  of  the  continent?  And  was  it  not  then  and  there  that 
the  fire  was  kindled  ?  Was  it  not  then  that,  for  the  first  time  in 
my  hard,  bitter  life,  I  was  taught  to  see  there  was  beauty  and 
joy  in  this  barren  world,  and  that  life  might  after  all  be  worth 
the  living  ?  Did  I  not  learn  then  that  there  were  souls  innocent 
of  narrow,  canting  prejudice,  free  of  the  corroding  taint  of  gold- 
grubbing?  Did  I  not  gaze  then,  through  portals  for  the  first 
time  unbarred,  on  a  new  and  brighter  existence,  whose  possi 
bility,  however  distant,  made  me  endure  and  struggle  on  in  the 
hope  of  one  day  attaining  it  ?" 

"  Do  you  mean,  Gifiord,  to  say  that " 

"  That  I  have  loved  you  with  all  my  soul  since  the  night 
before  we  fought  the  Indians !  That  I  knew  that  night,  if  life 
were  spared  to  us,  mine  would  never  know  love  again  but  for 
you.  Ah,  Marian,  it  was  not  I  who  was  your  knight — not  I 
who  bore  your  glove — your  little  Testament — through  that  des 
perate  strife ;  but  I  was  not  the  less  vowed  thenceforth  to  your 
service." 

"  You  saw  it  then?"  she  asked,  half  smiling  in  the  midst  of 
the  momentous  tumult  these  words  were  exciting. 

"Yes;  and  knew  how  Luke  came  by  it.  More,  Marian;  I 
knew  that  Luke  loved  you  with  a  fervid,  honest,  manly  love — " 

"  Poor,  good  Luke  !"  murmured  Marian. 

"But  not,  Marian — oh,  not  with  a  love  like  mine!  I  would 
not  disparage  what  I  know  for  manly  and  sincere,  but  love  can 
be  all  that,  and  more  than  that,  and  yet  be  far.  far  below  mine ! 
The  sun  would  shine,  the  grass  would  grow,  the  spheres  con 
tinue  their  music  for  one  who  felt  a  love  like  that,  even  if  un 
requited  ;  but  not  for  me,  Marian !  For  once  this  tale  is  told, 
darkness,  obstruction,  silence,  would  come  and  welcome,  too, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  .  347 

with  disappointment.  You  reproach  me  with  inconstancy, 
Marian  ;  ah,  me!  who  made  me  inconstant?" 

«  Alas !" 

"  Alas,  indeed,  if  you  regret  it !  I  mean  if  for  my  sake  as 
well  as  for  that  of  another  !  Do  you  mean  you  cannot  return 
my  love  ?  For  Heaven's  sake  don't — don't  say  that !  Think,  Ma 
rian,  how  very  natural  it  was — I  mean  for  one  born  and  bred  like 
me — to  passionately  love  when  he  met  one  like  you !  Think  of 
ho\v  the  gloomy  vista  of  his  future  was  hung  around  after  that 
with  the  warm,  glowing  colors  of  your  Southern  imagination! 
Think  of  how  your  dear  presence,  all  glorious  with  hope,  lighted 
up  the  path  which  had  always  before  seemed  so  dark,  so  profit 
less,  and  so  monotonous ;  and  then  think  how  natural  it  was  that 
such  a  presence,  in  scattering  the  promise  of  gladness,  should 
also  sow  the  seeds  of  love. 

"I  know  myself  weak — vain — a  selfish  egotist,  no  doubt.  Let 
me  have  all  the  censure  I  deserve,  but  let  me  not  be  condemned 
without  extenuation.  The  world  has  not  been  altogether  kind 
to  me.  An  unhappy  childhood,  a  joyless  youth,  a  morose  and 
cynical  manhood,  are  not  all  the  fault  of  him  who  suffers  or  ex 
hibits  them.  Is  it  vanity  to  say  I  think  there  is  some  little  good 
buried  among  this  ill,  some  gold  amid  this  dross,  some  service  to 
mankind  below  this  misanthropy,  if  a  tender  hand  be  haply  found 
winch,  like  an  enchanter's,  shall  reveal  and  put  them  to  their 
noblest  uses?  Marian,  dearest  Marian,  shall  this  hand  be 
yours  ?"' 

And  there  was  more  of  this  talk — wild,  hea.ted,  and  incohe 
rent,  indeed,  but  terribly  earnest,  for  the  man's  heart  was  on  his 
tongue,  and  like  all  men  of  his  stamp,  once  the  floodgates  were 
open,  he  made  no  reservation.  He  drew  a  sketch  of  his  joy,  his 
rapture,  when  through  the  good  offices  of  simple,  grateful  Ike, 
he  saw  his  way  to  wealth  such  as  he  never  dreamed  of  possess 
ing  ;  joy  to  think  that  now  there  was  at  least  a  chance — remote 
though  it  might  be — that  he  could  one  day  lay  at  Marian's  feet 
fortune,  heart,  all!  Of  how  he  had  hurried  from  Berkshire, 
after  doing  what  he  deemed  his  duty  there,  and  sought  Marian 
in  New  York — to  find  that  she  had  sailed  for  Europe.  Of  how 
he  had  followed  her  across  the  sea,  and  hunted  up  and  down  the 
continent  for  weeks  and  months,  to  be  again  foiled  and  disap 
pointed.  And  when  he  had  found  her  at  last — when  he  had  a 
home,  a  fortune  worthy  of  such  a  mistress,  with  a  heart  which, 
if  unworthy,  was  yet  so  supremely  devoted — would  she,  would 
Marian,  disappoint  him  again  now  ?  ' 

And  his  arm  had  stolen  about  her  waist  during  these  passion- 


348  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

ate  adjurations,  and  his  pleading  face  came  nearer  and  nearer 
while  he  poured  forth  a  story  of  love,  so  earnest  and  eloquent, 
that  it  seemed  impossible  for  Marian,  with  her  strong  preposses 
sion  and  her  warm  Southern  blood,  to  resist  its  force. 

And  yet  she  did  so.  There  was  something  repugnant  to  her 
delicacy — notwithstanding  the  stress  which  backed  HughGifford's 
suit — in  listening  to  the  tale  of  the  way  he  had  ended  the  old 
love,  and  in  the  same  hour  accepting  the  position  of  the  new. 
Yet  Hugh  could  scarcely  have  told  one  story  without  telling  the 
other.  The  latter  was  -the  complement — in  some  sort  the  justi 
fication — of  the  former.  And  he  was  free  ;  not,  after  all,  by  his 
own  act  so  much  as  by  Virginia's.  Still,  Marian  was  faithful  as 
she  had  ever  been,  in  spite  of  the  strongest  temptations,  to  her 
convictions  of  right  and  of  maidenly  propriety.  She  had  been 
tried  before,  and  did  not  hesitate  ;  she  did  not  falter  now. 

"  Listen,  Hugh,"  she  said,  as  she  disengaged  herself  from  his 
eager  arms,  and,  standing  apart,  with  a  pale  face,  but  a  steady 
voice,  made  answer  to  his  passionate  speeches,  "  I  have  been  to 
blame — unwittingly,  perhaps,  but  still  in  part  to  blame  for  the 
miscarriage  of  your  engagement  with  Virginia.  I  will  not  put 
myself  in  the  position  of  hastening  to  fill  a  place  I  have  helped 
to  vacate.  Nor  do  I  think  promises  on  either  side  exchanged  in 
the  first  moments  of  our  meeting  are,  under  all  the  circumstances, 
either  delicate  or  proper.  Therefore,  I  cannot  give  the  pledge 
you  ask  of  me." 

"  Your  heart  is  entangled  elsewhere  !"  he  cried,  hotly.  "  I  re 
member  now ;  even  at  the  ball  I  heard  you  were  engaged. 
Your  guardian's  friend — Mr.  Clyde — told  me  as  much." 

"He  must  have  been  in  jest.  Or  he  referred,  perhaps,  to  the 
dance  for  which  I  was  indeed  engaged — to  himself.  The  pledge 
I  refuse  to  give  to  you  I  have  given  to  no  other." 

"  But,  Marian,  this  is  mere  trifling ;  trifling  with  the  happi 
ness  of  both ;  for  I  feel — I  know  that  I  am  not  quite  indifferent 
to  you.  Speak;  is  not  this  true,  Marian?  I  charge  you  to 
answer,  and  answer  faithfully." 

A  bright  blush  rose  slowly  over  the  girl's  face,  until  it  crim 
soned  even  to  her  glossy  hair.  "  It  is  true,  Gifford." 

"And  yet,"  he  exclaimed  joyfully,  "yet  you  will  make  no 
pledge — will  plight  no  troth?" 

"  Hear  me,"  answered  Marian,  "  and  if  you  can  with  patience. 
I  am  not  quite  satisfied  either  with  you  or  with  myself ;  and  I 
think  neither  will  be  the  worse  for  an  ordeal  which  for  your  part 
you  have  said  you  would  not  shrink  from." 

"  I  do  not  understand." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  349 

"  You  have  said  that,  even  if  ignorant  of  the  real  object  of 
such  an  ordeal,  it  could  yet,  if  your  love  were  sincere,  make  no 
difference  in  it.  I- propose  just  such  an  one." 

"I  am  still  in  the  dark." 

"  The  measure  you  offered  to  Virginia  Chester  I  would  now 
mete  out  to  you — and  to  myself  as  well.  You  should  not  shrink 
from  this  application  of  the  golden  rule — this  test  of  constancy — 
according  to  your  own  practice,  your  own  showing." 

"  You  would  have  me  wait  for  a  year  ?"  said  Hugh,  with  a 
darkened  face,  as  he  began  to  perceive  her  drift. 

1  i  I  would  prefer  it,  Nay,  I  will  make  no  other  promise.  Let 
twelvemonths  roll  by,  each  to  be  free  as  Virginia  was  to  set  aside 
the  pact  at  will.  If,  at  their  expiration,  your  mind  be  unchanged, 
you  will  find  mine  no  less  so." 

"  These  are  hard  terms,  Marian." 

"If  you  say  so,  you  will  make  me  doubt  you.     Is  it  agreed  ?" 

"  And  I  cannot  lout  think  unnecessary  ones.  If  we  love  each 
other,  and  surely  we  do,  and  if  wrong  is  done  to  no  living  crea 
ture  beside,  and  surely  none  is  done,  why  so  cruel  a  delay  "?" 

"And  if  you  shrink  from  itj"  said  Marian,  rather  proudly, 
"  you  must  not  expect  me  to  rate  your  constancy  very  high  ;  in 
which  case,  am  I  not  right  to  impose  the  delay  ?" 

"  Enough,  Marian.     Let  it  be  as  you  will.     Let  it  be  my  pur- 

fation  for  the  wrong,  if  wrong  it  was.  inflicted  upon  Virginia, 
shall  at  least  have  earned  your  forgiveness  for  that  sin." 

"  And  for  all  others,  Hugh.  Do  not  think  this  probation 
agreeable  to  me.  Far  from  it.  I  will  confess  so  much.  But  it 
seems  to  me  right  ;  and  I  would  fain  you  thought  so  too." 

"  I'll  try.  Marian  ;  and  indeed  what  is  right  to  you  cannot  be 
otherwise  to  me.  Only  I  have  learned,  and  that  so  well  that 
one  lesson  to  the  contraiy  cannot  undo  the  conviction,  that  it  is 
far  harder  for  man  to  wait  than  for  woman." 

"  Heresy  !     Unless  you  mean  he  is  less  likely  to  be  faithful." 

"  Wait  and  see  !" 


CHAPTER  XL 

MR.  DYCE  PARAPET  walked  down  Fifth  Avenue  in  no  very  con 
tented  frame  of  mind.  His  gloves  were  of  as  cool  a  gray,  his 
boots  of  as  radiant  a  jet,  his  trousers  of  as  spotless  a  pearl,  his 


350  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

coat  of  as  glossy  a  black,  his  neckcloth  of  as  delicate  a  white  as 
they  usually  were  when  he  walked  down  Fifth  Avenue  of  a 
morning.  But  his  face  was  by  no  means  of  as  smooth  and  be 
nignant  an  expression  as  it  was  its  custom  to  be.  For  perhaps 
the  eighth  or  tenthtime  in  his  life,  Mr.  Parapet  was  ruffled  ;  ruf 
fled  when  another  would  have  been  very  angry.  A  calamity 
had  befallen  his  house.  A  blot  threatened  to  affix  its  permanent 
stain  upon  his  escutcheon.  A  necessity  for  prompt  action  to  avert 
the  threatened  evil  had  arisen.  To  be  at  once  annoyed  and  com 
pelled  to  exhibit  energy  was  a  complication  of  misfortune  whose 
effects  upon  Mr.  Parapet  may  be  measured  by  its  singularity. 
Either  grievance  alone  he  would  have  endured  with  his  ordinary 
chronic  placidity.  The  two  together  were  sufficient  to  ruffle  its 
surface. 

Clinton  Parapet — the  cream  of  cream  of  youths,  only  sons,  and 
Parapetian  representatives — had  been  seen  driving  in  the  park 
that  beautiful  but  ineligible  heiress  of  the  cotton  trade — Miss 
Flora  Dimity.  Not  in  the  dusky  evening,  Avith  a  quiet  equipage 
stealing  along  out-of-the-way  roads,  as  if  such  an  atrocity  were 
to  be  committed  at  all,  reason  and  good  sense  would  counsel ; 
but  with  a  pair  of  slashing  grays,  known  to  the  whole  town,  an 
open  carriage  through  the  most  frequented  drives  of  the  Central 
Park,  at  the  hour  of  high  fashion,  flaunting  up  and  down  in  the 
eyes  of  the  chattering  world  as  if  in  veriest  defiance  to  give  his 
crime  the  widest  publicity. 

''Just  now,  too,"  moaned  Mrs.  Parapet,  "when  that  odious 
man's  odious  new  shop  is  the  talk  of  the  whole  country  ;  when 
its  height  and  its  breadth,  and  its  length,  and  the  number  of  its 
simpering  shopmen,  and  the  yards  of  stuff  they  sell  in  a  day  are 
published  in  every  newspaper  !  It  seems  as  if  when  young  men 
do  commit  a  blunder,  it  must  needs  be  advertised  in  the  most 
conspicuous  and  objectionable  of  settings." 

"May  there  not  be,  after  all,  some  mistake  ?"  suggested  Mr. 
Parapet,  soothingly.  "  There  are  more  than  one  pair  of  grays — 
many  young  men  not  unlike  Clinton.  You  informant " 

"  Alas  !  The  best  authority  !  Indeed  half  a  dozen  of  them  I 
Mrs.  Crespigny,  with  her  eye  of  lynx  and  heart  of  steel,  drove 
here  the  same  afternoon — made  a  pretence  of  returning  a  volume 
of  Edith's — and  congratulated  us  incidentally  as  she  was  leaving  ! 
She  was  perfectly  delighted,  bursting  with  the  thing  during  her 
whole  visit,  and  her  artistic  self-control,  putting  it  off  for  an  exit 
speech,  was  enough  to  make  one  go  mad  !  Afterwards  the  Van 
Tassels  called  ;  they  were  simply  angry,  on  Henrietta's  account 
you  know,  and  wondered  whether  it  was  the  last  Parisian  mode 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  351 

to  drive  out  one's  tradespeople's  daughters.  And  Edith  heard 
it  from  the  Slamrnerhorns  at  the  opera  ;  they  were  neither 
delighted  nor  angry,  but  sorry  ;  pitied  her  beautifully,  she  said; 
and  asked  when  it  was  to  be,  and  could  it  not  be  stopped  in  some 
way.  They  had  heard  that  busybody.  De  Talbot  Jones,  tell  it  to 
Mrs.  Madison  Custard ;  and  when  people  like  that,  who  are  on  the 
fringe  of  society,  get  hold  of  a  story,  you  know  what  it  means  ! 
How  I  grieve  that  Clinton  came  from  abroad!" 

"  Unfortunate,  truly  unfortunate,"  sympathized  Mr.  Parapet, 
caressing  his  white  hands  as  if  some  one  had  slighted  or  injured 
them,  and  they  needed  a  little  petting  to  make  them  come 
round. 

;i  Unfortunate  ?  It's  irreparable,  almost.  The  next  thing  will 
be  a  paragraph  in  the  Sphere  or  the  Optimist.  Really,  if  it  is  not 
one  thing,  it  appears  it  must  be  another.  How  we  have  felicitated 
ourselves  on  Clinton's  freedom  from  vice,  even  from  the  lighter 
dissipations  common  to  his  years,  and  compared  him  to  others 
less  fortunate!  But  of  what  avail  is  it  to  escape  having  delirium 
tremens  like  young  Schindy,  or  not  to  forge  on  a  grandfather, 
like  Tom  Creasy,  if  a  son  is  to  turn  out  like  this  !  A  Cranstoun 
I  might  have  endured.  At  a  Slarnmerhorn  I  might  have  smiled 
in  silence.  Even  with  a  Van  Booreni  my  chagrin,  though  sharp, 
might  have  been  smothered.  But  a — a — DIMITY  !" 

"But,  my  dear,"  said  her  husband,  still  affectionately  consol 
ing  his  hands,  "  since  what's  done  cannot  be  undone •" 

"Can  it  not?  It  strikes  me  that  is  precisely  the  point.  I 
am  impressed  with  a  conviction  that  it  is  to  undo  we  ought,  or 
rather  you  ought,  to  bend  all  your  energies.  Think  of  Edith's 
prospects  dragged  down  by  a  Dimity  !  Think  of  a  cotton  woof 
spun  into  the  family  line !  Distinctly,  what  is  done  m  ust  be  undone ! " 

"  But  how  ?  The  young  people  have  been  seen  driving  in  the 
park.  Voila  tout.  It's  very  sad,  but  I  see  no  way  of  undo 
ing  it." 

"Tut!  the  drive  is  nothing  save  as  the  index  and  prologue  of 
what  has  preceded,  and  may  follow  it.  We  must  seize  on  the 
occasion  to  reverse  any  previous  understanding,  to  forestall  any 
injurious  consequences.  Either  Clinton  must  pledge  himself  to 
see  Flora  Dimity  no  more,  or  he  must  at  once  be  sent  abroad." 

••  You  remember,  of  course,  that  he  is  his  own  master  ?'' 

••  Nominally  and  technically  he  is  so ;  but  it  cannot  be  that 
this  girl  has  gained  such  a  hold  in  two  weeks  as  to  induce  him 
to  set  at  defiance  both  your  authority  and  mine.  To  interpose 
them  at  least  is  better  than  mere  quiescence,  even  should  they 
prove  to  have  been  interposed  in  vain." 


352  MARIAH  ROOKE;  OK, 

"I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do,"  said  Mr.  Parapet,  with  a  happy 
inspiration ;  "  I'll  speak  to  Clinton  of  course,  and  do  what  I  can 
in  the  way  of  direct  expostulation  ;  but  I'll  also  get  young  Gif- 
ford  to  attack  him.  Sensible  fellow  young  Gilford,  very.  Has 
sharp  perceptions  and  remarkably  sound  viows  for  nig  years,  and 
Clinton  thinks  more  of  him  than  of  any  other  young  man  of  his 
acquaintance." 

Mrs.  Parapet  thought  well  of  the  idea.  Gifford  was  a  sort  of 
person  who  would  see  at  a  glance  the  horrible  incongruity  of  an 
alliance  between  a  Parapet  and  a  Dimity.  He  was  one  of  those 
who,  if  they  cannot  exactly  boast  pur  sang  themselves,  have  very 
just  notions  of  its  quality  and  responsibility.  A  young  man  him 
self,  he  could,  with  a  good  grace,  point  out  the  grave  distinc 
tion  which  lies  between  venial  flirtation  and  criminal  matrimony. 
Moreover,  his  great  respect  for  Edith  would  surely  prompt  him 
to  do  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  a  step  which  would  be  at  once 
so  painful  to  her  feelings,  and  so  damaging  to  her  future  pros 
pects.  Gifford  was,  therefore,  elected  member  of  the  privy 
council,  which  was  to  circumvent  the  ambitious  scheme  imputed 
to  pretty  Flora  Dimity. 

So,  when  Mr.  Parapet  got  into  Union  Square  and  saw  Hugh 
standing  and  looking  up  disconsolately  at  the  equestrian  figure  of 
the  father  of  his  country,  he  hooked  the  young  gentleman  incon 
tinently  by  the  arm,  and  led  him  away  captive  to  his  club.  The 
meeting  was  apropos,  since  Hugh  had  some  advice  to  ask  as  well 
as  to  give ;  and  Mr.  Parapet  was  the  first  of  whom  he  had  re 
solved  to  seek  it. 

Our  hero  heard  the  statement  of  his  companion  with  the  grav 
ity  befitting  a  councillor  received  into  the  confidence  of  a  rever 
end  senior,  and  the  caution  suitable  to  the  fidelity  due  to  his 
friendship  for  a  son. 

"  Mere  flirtation  and  nonsense,  my  dear  sir,"  was  the  consola 
tory  opinion  he  felt  justified  in  expressing.  "  The  young  lady  is 
excessively  pretty,  and  Clinton  is  amazingly  fond  of  pretty  girls. 
But  I'm  quite  sure  he  has  no  serious  intentions." 

"I'm  pleased  to  hear  you  say  so,  and  Mrs.  Parapet  would  be 
delighted.  But,  pray  how  can  you  be  sure  of  such  a  thing  f 

"Ah,  well,  that  may  be  a  facon  de  parler  perhaps.  I  mean  to 
imply  the  conviction  that  were  Clinton's  sentiments  of  a  graver 
character,  they  would  find  no  such  public  expression." 

"  Yet  he  should  be  cautious  to  avoid  the  imputation  of  any 
thing  dishonorable." 

"  My  dear  sir,  he  is  your  son,  and  I'm  confident  if  he  thought 
his  conduct  obnoxious  to  such  a  censure,  a  word  or  two  would 


THE   QUEST    FOR   FORTUNE.  3.13 

set  him  right.  Of  course  a  young  gentleman  could  not  do  such 
things  abroad  as  he  does  with  Miss  Dimity.  But  if  American 
girls  will  walk  and  drive  and  go  to  the  opera  without  duennas, 
and  the  custom  is  permitted  by  society,  Clinton  is  not  individu 
ally  responsible  for  it" 

"  You  believe  then " 

"That  he  is  merely  doing  what  inclination  suggests  when  no 
particular  reason  occurs  for  declining  to  gratify  it.  The  young 
lady  is  perhaps  a  little  flattered,  and  encourages  him  quite  as 
much  as  she  ought. " 

"  I  hope  you'll  say  as  much  to  Mrs.  Parapet." 

"  With  much  pleasure,  if  you  think  it  will  be  in  the  least 
gratifying  to  her." 

"  It  certainly  will  be.  But  you  see  she  will  draw  this  distinc 
tion  ;  that  what  Miss  Dimity  is  doing  would  not  be  done  by 
young  women  of  Clinton's  own  set,  and  that  her  own  will  put 
only  one  construction  upon  it,  in  which  the  world  might  gener 
ally  uphold  them,  and  thus  he  may  become  awkwardly  entangled 
before  he  has  even  considered  what  he  is  about." 

' ;  You  will  speak  with  him,  however,  and  point  out  this  dan 
ger  r 

"At  once;  and,  if  you  don't  object,  I  would  ask  you  to  do 
the  same.  The  friend  may  well  put  such  a  case  in  a  more  tell 
ing  light  than  the  father." 

'•'  He  might  possibly  have  the  credit  of  being  quite  disinter 
ested." 

"  Precisely  But  there  is  a  dilemma  which  may  prove  im 
practicable  for  either.  Suppose,  after  all,  his  heart  should  be 
touched ;  suppose  he  has  been  infatuated  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
commit  himself  f 

"Really,"  laughed  Gilford,  "I  don't  think  a  few  dances  and 
promenades,  or  even  this  unfortunate  drive  in  the  park,  can  fairly 
justify  so  terrible  a  suspicion.  Yet,  even  were  it  to  prove  well 
founded,  I  should  not  despair." 

"  You  have  a  panacea  for  even  such  an  evil?" 

"  I  have  found  it  so.  You  are  consulting  one,  I  may  observe, 
not  entirely  without  experience.  If  matters  have  gone  such  a 
length,  I  would  counsel,  not  direct  opposition,  but  masterly  in 
activity.  Get  Clinton  to  agree  to  a  year's  delay:  he  might 
chafe,  but  the  hope  of  condoning  the  mam  offence  would  prob 
ably  induce  his  acquiescence ;  and  in  that  year,  you  may  depend, 
sir,  one  of  the  contracting  parties  will  find  reason  or  excuse  to 
escape  the  bond." 

He  spoke  rather  bitterly,  and  his  companion  looked  at  him 


354  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

with  surprise,  excited  rather  by  the  tone  than  the  words.  Hugh 
was  smarting  under  an  infliction,  which  he  was  not,  at  the  mo 
ment,  unwilling  to  extend  to  somebody  else,  while  he  was  hon 
estly  satisfied  that  his  previous  experience  justified  the  soundness 
of  his  advice. 

Mr.  Parapet  had  too  much  delicacy  to  remark  upon  the  feeling 
of  his  speech,  so  he  merely  thanked  Hugh,  saying  he  had  no 
doubt  but  in  the  majority  of  instances  such  a  resource  would 
prove  invaluable,  and  he  would  certainly  put  it  to  the  proof  in 
case  of  need,  and  reminding  him  that  he  had  promised  to 
afford  some  counsel  in  turn,  by  way  of  quid  pro  quo. 

Hugh's  matter  was  simply  this.  He  had  some  thoughts,  as 
Mr.  Parapet  knew,  of  embarking  in  political  life.  Occupation 
of  one  sort  or  another,  he  considered  essential  to  keep  his  mind 
from  rusting ;  and  to  serve  the  country  seemed  as  laudable  an 
ambition  as  could  be  cherished.  He  would  be  happy  of  any 
hints  which  Mr.  Parapet's  experience  might  enable  him  to  fur 
nish.  Mr.  Clyde  had  been  good  enough  to  give  him  much  val 
uable  information ;  but,  on  a  subject  so  many-sided,  a  multitude 
of  counsels  begat  wisdom.  Hugh  would  be  glad  of  Mr.  Para 
pet's  in  a  general  way,  and  of  any  details  he  could  supply  of  the 
character  and  uses  of  Mr.  Salathiel  Doke  in  a  particular  one. 
The  subject  was  one  which  Mr.  Parapet  could  discuss  con  spirito, 
if  not  con  amore. 

"My  dear  young  friend,"  he  said,  feelingly,  "who  toucheth 
pitch,  shall  be  defiled.  If  you  can  achieve  something  thereby, 
whose  blessing  overtops  the  curse  of  defilement,  profit  may  come, 
although  I  fail  to  see  it.  If  to  spend  your  substance  for  the 
delectation  of  an  unclean  rabble  ;  to  breathe  an  atmosphere  fla 
vored  of  humanity  unwashed,  onions  and  bad  whiskey  ;  to  listen 
always  to  foul  oaths  unreproved,  envy  and  uncharitableness 
toward  all  better  educated,  better  dressed,  or  indeed  different 
in  any  respect  from  the  rabble  itself;  to  sit  under  the  wing  of 
spread  eagles  barbarously  caricatured  to  suit  the  taste  of  that 
rabble ;  to  serve  it  for  a  constituency,  with  Salathiel  Dokes  to 
interpret  its  lofty  behests ;  if  to  do  these  things  be  desirable,  or 
if  the  end  sanctify  the  means — for  there  is  but  one  road,  and 
that  no  royal  one — become  a  politician. 

"  If  to  be  drawn  gradually  but  irresistibly  into  the  habit  of 
talking  slang  instead  of  English — exaggerated  and  hybrid  fus 
tian  instead  of  pure  and  simple  idiom — the  habit  of  lowering 
yourself  on  principle  to  please  the  tastes  and  prejudices  of  the 
vulgar $  of  pretending  to  be  coarse  and  commonplace,  because 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  355 

the  bulk  of  your  audience  are  so,  until  the  habit  becomes  second 
nature,  and  you  sink  to  the  same  level-r-become  a  politician. 

"  You  heard  a  politician  speak  here  the  other  night — a  poli 
tician  who  is  also  an  orator.  The  occasion  was  a  solemn  one — 
the  death  of  an  eminent  public  servant  and  benefactor — and  the 
audience  might  be  considered  a  selectone.  I  remember  the  speaker 
as  a  youth ;  and  he  had  the  education,  if  not  altogether  the  man 
ners,  of  a  gentleman.  But  to  hear  him,  even  under  such  circum 
stances,  was  to  show  what  the  habit  I  cite  may  do  in  the  way  of 
deterioration.  What  incredible  bombast  was  his  speech !  How 
turgid  the  diction — how  puffed  by  superfluous  and  unmeaning 
adjectives!  How  preposterous  the  metaphors — learned  by  rote 
on  an  hundred  stumps  to  tickle  the  ears  of  the  groundlings  ! 
How  inconclusive  and  irrelevant  was  his  argument,  and  how 
laughably  magniloquent  and  unscholarly  the  peroration !  The 
speech  was  just  fit  for  a  grog-shop  gathering  to  nominate  an 

Irish  councilman  for  the  Sixth  ward ;  and  yet  Mr. ranks  as 

one  of  the  leaders*  of  his  party,  and,  you  may  depend  upon  it, 
is  unconscious  of  his  solecisms — his  sins  against  taste  and  pro 
priety.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  this  disease  that  its  victim  s  are 
utterly  ignorant  of  its  ravages.  Tell  them  it  exists,  and  they  will 
tell  you  you  are  a  fool.  They  resent  the  imputation  to  the  last 
degree,  and  are  quite  sincere  in  their  incredulity ;  and  they  are 
not  entirely  wrong,  so  far  as  censure  attaches  to  their  malady, 
since  it  is  the  product,  not  of  individuals,  but  of  a  system.'' 

With  these  and  more  opinions  of  a  similar  uncomprom  ising 
character  did  Mr.  Parapet  regale  the  ears  of  Gifford  ;  winding 
up  with  the,  for  him,  rather  extreme  statement  that  he  believed 
Mr.  Doke  to  be  one  of  the  most  arrant  scoundrels  who  went  un 
hung.  Nevertheless,  he  added,  if  Hugh  were  absolutely  deter 
mined  upon  entering  the  thorny  paths  so  deprecated,  Doke 
could  be  made,  beyond  doubt,  very  useful  as  a  tool.  He  was 
celebrated  as  having  done  the  duty  work  for  divers  eminent 
officials,  whilst  they  were  climbing  to  the  dizzy  heights  they  now 
occupied ;  and,  if  unscrupulousness  were  a  virtue,  it  could  not 
be  gainsaid  that  he  possessed  that,  at  least,  if  no  other.  He 
had  the  ear  of  many  who  would  dislike  to  be  publicly  mentioned 
in  connection  with  "his  name  ;  for  even  Mr.  Clyde,  who  certainly 
would  not  associate  with  him,  had  employed  the  man  politically. 
Finally,  he  might  be  fitly  regarded  as  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
people  whom  an  aspirant  for  political  honors  must  make  up  his 
mmd  to  see  and  hear  a  good  deal  of;  so  that,  on  the  whole, 
Gifford  might  as  well  get  accustomed  to  the  species  in  his  per 
son  as  in  another's. 


356  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

All  this  was  more  disagreeable  to  our  hero  than  he  cared  to 
acknowledge.  Somewhat  later  in  his  career,  he  would  not  have 
had  to  learn  that  a  gentleman  of  his  mentor's  order  was  the  last 
to  whom  he  should  apply  for  an  account  of  the  favorable  side 
of  political  life.  He  was  no  more  likely  to  speak  well  of  the 
existing  order  of  things  than  an  unenfranchised  Englishman 
who  sees  no  chance  of  rising  to  the  dignity  of  a  ten-pounder. 
Indeed,  the  analogy  could  be  carried  to  very  interesting  con 
clusions  as  regards  these  twin  classes,  thus  excluded  on  their  re 
spective  sides  of  the  Atlantic  from  all  share  in  the  business  of 
the  state.  Practically,  their  positions  are  the  same.  The  highest 
class  in  America  and  the  lowest  class  in  England  are  in  the  like 
category  of  discontented  or  apathetic  exclusion ;  and,  however 
difficult  it  may  be  for  philosophers  to  suggest  the  remedies,  it  is 
easy  enough  to  point  out  the  evils  which  both  systems  entail. 
Neither  are  compatible  with  that  political  Utopia  which  Hugh 
Gifford,  like  many  embryo  statesmen,  was  fond  to  dream  of; 
but  he  might  have  been  wiser  than  to  seek  either  for  sympathy 
or  enthusiastic  patriotism  in  a  Parapet — and,  happily,  in  time, 
he  grew  to  be  so. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

RUMOR,  with  her  thousand  tongues,  painted  our  hero  far  richer 
than  he  was.  Unknown  in  the  haunts  of  trade,  or  the  walks 
of  professional  life,  and  a  stranger  even  in  social  circles,  there 
was  a  mystery  about  his  antecedents  well  calculated  to  sharpen 
wonder,  and  give  a  zest  to  speculation.  The  sponsorship  of 
the  Parapets  had  assured  his  position,  and  an  expenditure,  lib 
eral,  yet  tasteful,  attendant  on  his  taking  up  a  settled  residence 
in  the  metropolis,  did  its  share  in  attracting  attention  and  re 
mark.  As  the  news  spread  abroad  of  the  new  Croesus  who  had 
come  to  dwell  among  them,  the  keen-witted,  the  parasitical,  and 
the  grovelling,  gathered  together  to  profit  by,  to  fasten  to,  and 
to  worship  him. 

Greatly  to  his  surprise — for  although  he  fancied  he  knew 
much  of  the  world,  Hugh  was  yet  but  a  young  man — he  found 
himself  quite  overwhelmed  with  compliments  and  attentions. 
The  letters  from  tradespeople ;  cringing  proffers  of  unlimited 
credit  from  disinterested  tailors,  and  saddlers,  and  jockeys, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  357 

were  sufficiently  explicable,  and  he  was  quite  old  enough  to  see 
through  them.  But  the  cut  flowers  on  his  breakfast-table  every 
morning  ;  the  pressing  invitations  sent  daily  by  sumptuous  oc 
cupants  of  palaces  ;  the  requests  for  the  honor  of  his  company, 
and  the  favor  of  his  patronage,  from  societies  and  corporations 
having  some  name  in  the  world  ;  the  cordial  proposals  to  attend 
to  his  Wall  street  business,  free  of  all  expense,  by  fascinating 
brokers,  who  seemed  to  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  such 
benevolently  unrequited  labors ;  the  private  boxes,  mysteriously 
offered  at  his  shrine  by  rival  managers ;  the  profusion  of  nods 
and  becks,  and  wreathed  smiles  from  hosts  of  fair  ones,  to  whom 
he  had  barely  been  presented ;  and,  finally,  the  outrageous  puffs 
of  his  person,  carriage,  horses,  mansion,  and  everything  that 
was  his,  which,  to  his  confusion,  appeared  one  morning  in  the 
Optimist,  were  not  so  readily  seen  through  or  appreciated. 

"He's  a  millionaire!"  whispered  Mr.  Doke  into  the  greedy 
ears  of  the  Sachems  of  Gammony;  and  "He's  a  millionaire  !" 
echoed  in  joyful  unison  through  the  ancient  wigwam  where  they 
sat  in  council.  "But,"  added  Salathiel,  darkly,  "no  capers, 
mind !  I'm  a  workin'  of  him,  I  am ;  and  I'll  cook  any  duck  that 
comes  between  me  and  my  game  before  killin'  time."  And  Sa 
chems,  preferring,  as  a  rule,  to  cook,  rather  than  be  cooked,  grim 
ly  awaited  the  event,  with  the  consolatory  hope  of  sharing  in 
the  feast  when  it  should  be  served. 

"  He's  a  millionaire !"  muttered  Gollop,  the  famous  speculator, 
of  the  heavy  firm  of  Ingott  and  Gollop,  and,  as  he  himself  said 
in  the  way  of  boast,  one  of  Mr.  Clyde's  right-hand  men  in  great 
political  enterprises.  ' ;  Wonder  how  much  I  could  get  him  to 
take  of  the  Great  Consolidated  Horse  Railway  !  Wonder  how 
much  he's  really  worth  any  how!  Wonder  what's  his 
bait :  politics,  gals,  bosses,  or  buildin' !"  For  Gollop  was  re 
ligiously  persuaded  that  every  man  on  earth  had,  what  he  termed, 
his  "bait;"  which,  like  the  shining  fly  to  a  trout,  or  toasted 
cheese  to  a  mouse,  was  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  lure  him  to 
his  ruin. 

"He's  a  millionaire!"  murmured  Mrs.  Cranstoun,  with  the 
marriageable  daughter,  who,  after  a  poor  season  or  so  more, 
would  be  no  longer  marriageable.  "Heavens!  if  he  would 
only  take  a  fancy  to  dear  Julia !  Surely  she  doesn't  look  more 
than  eight-and-twenty  by  gas-light ;  and  they  say  he's  so  sensi 
ble  and  well  read,  perferring  sound,  good  sense,  and  solid  do 
mestic  virtues  to  mere  prettiness.  Ah,  me !  If  I  could  only 
see  those  giggling  girls,  who  call  her  a  skinny  old  maid,  turn 
green  with  envy  as  she  dashed  by  in  that  love  of  a  coupe,  to 


358  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

that  sweet  house  of  his  with  the  brown  stone  caryatides,  I  do 
believe  I  could  die  in  peace!  But  how  to  manage  it,  oh!  how 
to  manage  it!" 

"  He's  a  millionaire !"  pondered  Mr.  Clyde,  as  he  flew  by  the 
Erie  Railway  into  the  heart  of  the  Sate,  and  made  little  entries 
and  calculations  on  the  tablets  be  habitually  carried.  "  If  I  put 
him  in  by-and-by  for  one  of  the  River  Counties,  bringing  him 
forward,  as  he  develops,  into  the  line  of  promotion  ;  what,  with 
his  brain  and  that  conscientiousness  which  is  sure  to  keep  him 
grateful,  I  might — hum — well,  we'll  see." 

"  He's  a  millionaire  !"  breathed  the  reverential  rabble,  as  the 
Gifford  coupe  dashed  up  Broadway,  while  the  hotel  loafers,  the 
actors  lounging  about  the  doors  of  theatres,  and  the  red-eyed 
gamblers  looked  after  it  with  desire.  "  Brought  back  five  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  in  sacks  of  gold  dust  from  California,  and 
doubled  it  in  Wall  Street  the  week  after."  "  One  of  the  ablest 
young  men  in  our  great  country,  sir.  Made  the  tour  of  Europe 
in  six  weeks,  at  an  expense  of  six  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  a  week,  not  countin'  drinks."  "Don't  chew  none, 
but  smokes  like  sin.  Half  the  gals  on  Fifth  Avenue  are  fightin' 
for  him."  "Sphinx  is  a  paintin'  of  him,  as  a  Roman  emperor 
with  a  wreath  of  laurel  on."  "  Gollop  and  him  are  going  into 
partnership  to  buy  Staten  Island,  and  turn  it  into  Cremorne  Gar 
dens."  "  Is  that  so  V '  "  Yer  lie  !"  "  Shaver  told  me,  anyhow. 
Only  Live  Oak  George  and  old  Corneel  Gingergilt  fit  as  to  who 
should  hev  the  lion's  share."  "  Git  aout."  "  Them  bosses  cost 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-four  dollars  and  sixty-eight 
cents."  "  Show  !"  "  Jube  Cinnamon  told  me,  and  he  had  'em 
a  week  on  the  Centreville  course,  slickin'  up  for  market.  He 
says  this  here  ghost's  income  is  five  hundred  dollars  a  day !" 
"  Gas !  I  don't  swaller  that."  "Bill  Astor,  and  sech,  chalk  a  heap 
higher 'n  that !"  "Yes  ;  and  how  long  was  old  John  Jacob  a 
makin'  of  it  ?"  "  No  one  ever  heerd  o'  this  man  afore.  I  b'lieve 
he's  some  skunk  of  a  lord  playin'  possum  on  the  upper  ten  ! 
Stuck  up  lookin'  cuss  anyhow." 

Gifford  would  have  been  more  than  man  had  he  remained 
utterly  insensible  to  the  incense  which  was  perpetually  burning 
below  and  around  him.  It  is  not  singular  that  he  grew  to  mis 
take  some  of  the  adulation  which  his  reputed  wealth  commanded 
for  genuine  appreciation  of  his  personal  qualities.  Alas !  Which 
of  us  are  so  strong  as  to  be  sure  that,  similarly  circumstanced,  we 
should  be  more  clear-headed  ?  Let  those  who  are  doubtful  on 
this  point,  seek  the  confidence,  if  they  can  get  it,  of  some  one 
who  has  suddenly  acquired  wealth,  and  is  now  so  fortunate  as  to 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  359 

be  able  to  look  back  calmly  and  measure  its  immediate  effects  and 
consequences. 

Little  by  little  the  aspirations  for  greatness,  for  usefulness  to 
his  fellow-men,  which  had  formerly  been  clear,  strong,  and 
sharply  defined  hi  Hugh's  mind,  became  confused,  weak,  .and 
blurred.  Why  should  one  who  was  so  much  respected  and  es 
teemed  labor  to  win  respect  and  esteem  ?  Why  run  races  when 
the  goal  is  already  won l?  True,  the  ignorant  people  he  had  form 
erly  associated  with  did  not  reverence  him  so  highly  as  the  more 
clear-sighted  community  he  now  lived  among  ;  but  that  was 
their  lack  of  education  and  consequent  appreciation,  poor  things. 
It  could  not  be  expected  that  srch  as  they  could  comprehend  the 
exceptional  merits  of  an  uncommon  character — understand  the 
value  of  attainments  to  which  they  were  utter  strangers. 

But  there  was  Marian — she  .surely  could  understand  and  ap 
preciate  him — there  could  be  no  doubt  of  her  capacity  ;  and  yet 
a  little  while  ago  she  had  censured  him  ;  and  more  than  once 
since,  she  had  gently  implied  dissatisfaction  with  the  course  he 
was  pursuing.  She  thought  it  very  different,  this  life  of  fes 
tivity,  pride,  and  indulgence,  from  the  ideal  "life  of  progressive 
usefulness  and  resolutely  developed  faculties  she  had  sketched 
out  for  him  of  old,  at  Armstrong's  Bar  ;  and  she  said  so.  This 
contrast  between  the  admiration,  the  felicitations  of  others,  and 
Marian's  quiet,  thoughtful  disapproval,  jarred  on  Gilford's  self- 
esteem  ;  and  at  almost  that  very  time  when  he  was  wild  with  joy 
at  having  found  her — the  tune  when  the  acme  of  human  happi 
ness,  as  he  once  esteemed  it,  was  within  his  reach — he  was  weak 
enough  to  feel  pained  by  the  noble  girl's  frank  sincerity,  and  to 
foster  an  estrangement  which  was  the  merest  offspring  of  vanity. 

This  grew  not  up  in  a  day.  Its  growth  was  slow,  sinister, 
and  gradual.  The  old  love  was  too  strong  to  be  readily  shaken, 
and  there  were  many  occasions  when  it  swept  through  Hugh's 
heart  with  all  its  wonted  power,  overthrowing  and  putting  to 
flight  all  meaner  thoughts,  or  unworthy  jealousies  which  stood 
in  its  way.  But  the  miserable  effect  of  his  wealth  was  ever 
present.  When  he  left  Marian,  who  told  him  he  was  a  weak, 
:  erring  mortal,  with  good  capacities,  but  much  to  achieve,  he  went 
forth  to  meet  a  crowd  of  worshippers,  who  hailed  him  as  a  de 
migod,  and  filled  his  path  with  flowers  of  praise  and  his  ears 
with  poems  of  admiration.  And  then,  alas  I  for  the  tender  mon- 
itress  who,  self-abnegatory  as  she  was,  thought  only  of  her  lover's 
good,  thus  contending  with  the  merciless  worldlings  who  thought 
only  of  their  own. 

One  morning  Gifford  received  two  letters  which  brought  many 


3 GO  MAKIAN   KOOKE  ;    OR, 

an  old  memory  up  before  him,  which  made  him  think  of  his 
childhood,  of  his  boyhood,  of  his  earlier  manhood,  its  struggles, 
its  temptations,  its  romantic  success  ;  more  than  all,  it  recalled 
the  hours  passed  at  Armstrong's  Bar  with  her  who  had  won  his 
heart  there.  But  the  letters  shall  speak  for  themselves. 

DR.  DAVID  LANDALE  TO  HUGH  GIFFORD. 

"Armstrong's  Bar,  Oct.  14th,  1852.     • 

"lam  just  back  here  taking  a  look  at  the  old  place  before 
coming  east.  Lion's  Dale  has  been  the  making  of  our  pockets  ; 
but  it's  a  wild,  uncouth  place,  compared  with  this.  There  is  quite 
a  village  here  now — shops  with  painted  signs ;  a  big  hotel  with 
Corinthian  columns  (cut  out  in  profile  of  deal  boards)  ;  two  bil 
liard-rooms,  and  twenty-three  new  houses.  Also  seven  flumes 
running  to  the  Canon  and  pumping  the  poor  old  stream  nearly 
dry  in  hot  weather.  And  the  old  shanty  still  stands,  with  a 
wooden  roof  instead  of  a  cotton  one,  and  "  Post  Office"  in  gilt 
letters  just  under  the  eaves.  Of  course  there  are  many  more  folks 
here  than  of  yore  ;  but  it's  not  a  bit  pleasanter  for  all  that. 

"  The  solitude  that  used  to  be  so  soothing  and  grateful ;  the 
woods  so  silent,  and  the  banks  of  the  streams  and  tarns  where 
we  wandered  like  chiefs  who  had  shut  out  all  the  world  beside  ; 
the  pretty  spots  where  we  used  to  idle  away  the  leisure,  schem 
ing  what  we'd  all  do  when  we  got  rich;  all  these  are  made 
common  and  vulgar  now  by  the  coarse  crowd  who  see  beauty 
only  where  gold  is,  and  leave  traces  wherever  they  go  enough 
to  scare  away  the  fairies  forever.  You'll  remember  the  bit  of  a 
lake  among  the  hills  where  Luke  made  the  seat  after  the  lassie 
left?  I  was  there  yesterday ;  and  the  green  sod  was  crushed 
with  heavy  feet,  and  strewn  with  broken  whiskey  bottles  and 
pipes,  and  fragments  of  tin  cans  and  old  bones.  It's  well  we're 
all  gone  or  going,  for  the  spot  will  never  again  be  the  spot  that 
it  was. 

"  Well,  you'd  like  to  know  how  we've  fared.  Briefly,  then, 
we  have  about  fifty  thousand  each  to  his  share  ;  and  by  staying 
a  couple  of  years  more  might  have  the  double  of  it.  But  for 
me,  I  am  weary  of  the  life.  There  are  things  dearer  in  the 
world  than  gold  getting;  and  time  rolls  on  and  on  without 
making  me  younger.  For  one  who's  neither  kith  nor  kin,  ten 
thousand  pounds  may  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  and  some 
thing  better ;  so  that  I've  no  fears  on  that  score,  and  am  ready 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  361 

to  cry  content  while  yet  free  of  fever  or  ague  to  poison  the  days 
to  come. 

"The  old  people  are  well  and  cheerful.  Having  got  on  so 
well,  they  are  now  heart-set  for  the  old  family  place,  a  farm 
where  Seth  was  born,  not  far  from  New  York  on  the  banks  of 
the  Connecticut.  And  pretty  Kitty  has  made  up  her  mind  to 
be  Mrs.  Railes — she  has  put  it  off  once  or  twice — after  they  get 
home,  she  says,  and  have  time  to  turn  round.  As  to  Dick,  he 
worships  the  ground  she  treads  on.  I  don't  think  he  ever 
thought  so  much  of  any  creature  or  thing  on  earth — except  the 
theodolite — and  I  believe  he  says  his  prayers  to  that  every 
morning. 

"For  Luke,  he  is  more  studious  and  quiet-like  than  ever. 
He's  always  done  his  share  'of  the  work  and  more ;  but  he's 
done  something  else  besides.  He's  taught  himself  a  good  bit  of 
the  Lathi  grammar,  and  with  a  word  from  me  now  and  then,  is 
well  on  with  the  mathematics.  I've  taught  him  the  principles 
of  plane  surveying  and  levelling,  and  he's  quite  up  to  trigono 
metry  and  the  use  of  logarithms.  Last  tune  I  went  to  San 
Francisco  I  bought  him  a  Legendre,  by  way  of  Euclid,  you 
know,  and  a  Bourdon's  algebra ;  so  that  you'll  guess  he's  im 
proving  his  mind. 

"  And  when  I  was  at  the  town — a  wonderfully  different  town 
from  what  you  saw  it — I  heard  somewhat  of  other  friends  of 
oui*s.  Mr.  Sloper  has  become  enormously  rich,  and  is  soon  to 
return  to  the  Atlantic  States.  He  made  ten  thousand  dollars 
out  of  the  great  fire ;  and  it  is  said,  has  doubled  it  about  once 
a  month  ever  since.  Judge  Skewer  killed  two  men  in  a  gam 
bling  row,  making  five  homicides  he  has  committed  in  all,  and 
had  to  fly  to  the  mountains,  where  he  is  now  reputed  to  be  con 
cealed.  Of  the  two  other  gentlemen  who  dined  with  us  at  the 
Cafe  Lafayette,  Mr.  Gallus  was  hung  last  summer  by  the  Vigi 
lance  Committee,  and  Mr.  McCracken  is  Mayor  of  Sonora. 

"  Mr.  Du  Solle,  the  Southerner,  whom  we  saw  leave  so  much 
at  the  gaming  house,  lost  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  shortly 
afterwards,  and  blew  liis  brains  out  one  fine  morning  at  his 
lodgings  in  the  Occidental  Hotel.  What  is  very  singular  is, 
that  I  happened  to  sleep  at  the  hotel  that  night,  and  was  sum 
moned,  as  the  nearest  surgeon  at  hand,  to  see  the  man.  For  a 
few  moments  I  was  alone  with  the  body,  and  I  found  in  an 
inner  pocket  of  his  waistcoat  next  his  heart  a  very  striking  min 
iature  of  Miss  Marian  Rooke.  .  There  could  be  no  mistake,  for 
the  likeness  was  too  life-like.  It  struck  me  that,  considering  all 
things,  as  a  friend  of  the  young  lady,  I  was  justified  in  taking 
16  * 


362  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

this  picture ;  and  I  have  kept  it  by  me  without  mention  to  any 
one,  to  return  to  herself  when  I  see  her. 

"  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  barking  of  Lion  hard  by,  just 
now,  I  do  believe  I  should  have  been  thoughtless  enough  not  to 
name  him  or  his  master.  They  are  both  well ;  but  do  you  know 
I  think  both  Ike  and  the  dog  took  your  going  very  much  to 
heart.  It  was  many  a  day  after  that  they  went  spooking  about 
as  if  to  find  you  in  some  out  of  the  way  place,  the  dog  smelling 
and  the  man  peering;  however,  they're  both 'greatly  creatures 
of  habit,  and  are  getting  to  be  much  the  same  as  ever.  They 
will  be  brought  home  to  the  East  by  the  Armstrongs,  and  may 
be  the  new  change  will  do  the  poor  laddie  some  good. 

"  I  might  write  many  more  details,  but  then  I'd  have  nothing 
to  interest  you  when  we  meet  at  New  York,  which,  at  my  pres 
ent  thinking,  may  be  in  three  months'  time ;  that  is,  provided 
you're  not  away  when  we  arrive.  So  I'll  just  close  this  Avith 
wishing  you  a  continuance  of  the  health  you  always  had,  and  of 
the  fortune  begun  at  Lion's  Dale. 

"  DAVID  LAND  ALE. 

"  P.  S, — They  all  tell  me  to  put  in  their  good  wishes,  and 
hope  soon  to  see  you,  and  that  you  have  seen  'Mary  Anne.' 
And  if  I  were  you,  having  leisure  in  abundance,  I'd  try  to  un 
earth  and  bring  to  grief  that  never-to-be-sufficiently-execrated, 
and  yet  most  facetious  scoundrel — '  Colonel'  Pangburn." 

JOHN  CHESTER  TO  HUGH  GIFPORD. 

"  Court  Street,  Boston,  Nov.  15th. 

"  My  dear  friend  Hugh, — What  a  world  this  is  !  Only  three 
days  ago  I  heard  from  an  old  and  attached  acquaintance  of  yours 
of  your  great — although  I  am  sure  deserved — good  fortune ;  that 
you  were  living  in  style  at  New  York,  keeping  your  carriage, 
aud  holding  your  head  as  high  as  the  best.  How  time  flies  I  It 
seems- only  yesterday  since  you  and  I  were  clerks  together  in 
Old  Tarbox's  office,  where  wie  were  such  dear  old  friends — were 
we  not,  Hugh? — and  laid  the  foundations  of  that  friendship 
.which,  I  trust,  is  to  last  always. 

"  It  is  pleasant,  dear  friend,  as  the  months  come  round  and 
we  feel  ourselves  going  further  and  further  irom  boyhood,  to 
feel  that  we  still  preserve  some  of  boyhood's  friendships  to  aid 
each  other  in  lightening  the  burthen  of  life  and  to  console  each 
other  under  its  afflictions.  Watching  your  course,  as  I  have  ever 
done,  with  the  solicitude — shall  I  say  of  a  brother  ? — natural  to  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  3C3 

circumstances  ;  for  although  Gaycow  supplanted  you  with  Vir 
ginia  he  never  could  fill  your  place  with  me — with  the  solicitude, 
then,  of  a  brother,  I  need  not  say  how  delighted  I  am  by  the 
prosperity  which  you  have  attained,  and  which  will  enable  you 
to  carry  out  what  was  always  your  prime  desire — the  diffusion 
of  happiness  among  those  around  you. 

'•  The  news  of  your  good  fortune  has  spread  rapidly  among 
your  friends  here,  and  all  are  anxious  to  see  and  congratulate 
you.  They  appear  to  be  surprised  that  you  should  not  settle  in 
Boston  instead  of  New  York,  as,  of  course,  there  cannot  be  a 
comparison  between  the  two  cities  in  point  of  society  and  cul 
ture,  and  they  would  have  thought  the  memory  of  the  happy 
hours  you  have  spent  in  old  Trimountain — to  say  nothing  of  the 
shades  of  Harvard — would  have  led  you  to  turn  with  yearning 
to  the  scenes  of  your  childhood.  But  I  tell  them  it  is  wrong  to 
judge  you  without  a  hearing,  and  that  it  is  quite  improbable  so 
prudent  and  sensible  a  man  as  Hugh  Gifford  has  ever  been, would 
act  in  this  or  any  other  matter  without  due  reflection  and  suffi 
cient  cause. 

"Father  was  here  yesterday,  well  and  hearty.  I  have  just 
been  conducting  a  little  suit  of  his  against  the  Pennifeajhers,  the 
final  result  of  an  old  standing  quarrel  about  metes  and  bounds, 
the  farms  you  know  being  contiguous.  He  says  Canaan  is  over 
building  itself,  trying  to  compete  with  the  new  houses  of  the 
Gaycows  and  Cuticle  Flips.  When  I  told  him  of  your  great 
accession  of  riches  and  honors,  father's  face  fell  a  little ;  not,  you 
will  do  him  the  justice  to  believe,  that  he  was  sorry  for  your 
prosperity,  but  because  he  thought  perhaps  of  how  good  a 
chance  had  been  missed  by  Virginia.  Ah,  Hugh  !  we  must  make 
allowances  for  these  little  weaknesses.  Perhaps  it  is  true  that 
the  generation  which  is  passing  away  was  over  fond  of  money, 
over  ready  to  sacrifice  all  else  to  its  acquisition  ;  and  there  may 
have  been,  probably  were,  excuses  for  them.  It  is  not  because 
we  of  the  generation  of  to-day  have  outlived  that  particular 
weakness  or  defect  of  money-worship,  that  we  are  to  hold  our 
selves  without  sin.  It  should  rather  teach  us  humility  ;  teach  us 
how  by  increased  kindness  and  lenity,  and  consideration  for  the 
interests  and  feelings  of  others,  we  may  at  once  mitigate  the 
faults  of  our  brethren  and  palliate  our  own. 

"  Business  is  good.  My  own  prospects  I  consider  to  be  sub 
stantial  and  improving.  They  are  putting  up  a  great  number  of 
nice  new  houses  at  the  South  End,  and  I  think  of  buying.  I 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  on  the  registry  of  mortgages,  knowing 
that  when  so  much  is  borrowed  to  put  in  bricks'and  mortar, 


304  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

sooner  than  the  legitimate  increase  of  population  warrants  it, 
somebody  must  sacrifice.  They  have  repainted  the  State  House, 
and  the  dome  looks  quite  a  different  object,  provoking  much 
remark.  I  should  like  some  more  New  York  business  than  I 
have,  and  will  not  apologize  (knowing  you  would  laugh  at  that) 
for  enclosing  the  names  of  some  firms  of  your  city  whose  business 
here  I  would  like  to  get. 

"  Do  write  me  all  the  particulars  of  your  wonderful  success, 
as  to  how  it  came  about,  and  so  on.  If  you  could  run  on  here, 
although  only  for  a  day,  I  am  certain  you  would  enjoy  it  much, 
and  your  friends  would  receive  you  with  open  arms.  It  would 
have  quite  touched  you  to  hear  how  some  of  the  dear  old  chaps 
at  Cambridge  took  the  news  of  your  rise  in  the  world — it  would 
indeed.  But  I  am  sure,  dear  Hugh,  that  none  could  rejoice 
more  heartily  in  so  happy  a  circumstance  than  does 
"Your  affectionate  old  friend, 

"JonN  CHESTER. 

"P.  S.  Pray  write  soon,  as  I  am  most  anxious  to  hear  from 
you  ;  would  come  on,  if  not  so  very  busy." 

"Talk  of  fame!"  said  Mr.  Doke,  exultingly.;  "look  at  that 
air!"  And  Hugh  looked  at  that  air;  and,  to  do  him  justice, 
blushed  very  deeply  in  so  doing.  He  was  not  so  far  gone  as  to 
be  unable  to  see  the  absurdity  of  the  thing ;  but  how  could  he 
help  it  ?  How  could  he  possibly  tell  that  that  eccentric  genius, 
Sphinx,  would  not  only  have  finished  his  portrait  in  time,  but 
would  have  it  hanging  in  that  barefaced  way  on  the  walls  of  the 
Academy  the  first  day  it  opened  its  doors  ? 

Hugh  had  been  cajoled  into  sitting,  not  so  much  out  of  vanity 
•as  good  nature  ;  and  not  as  a  Roman  emperor,  but  as  that  scarce 
ly  less-abused  individual — "  a  gentleman."     He  met  Sphinx  at 
Wirt  Pinckney's,  and  had  been  somewhat  puzzled  and  embar 
rassed  by  the  great  artist  staring  fixedly  at  him  in  what  he 
thought  a  rather  ironical  manner  for  a  long  time,  and  just  as  he 
began  to  think  of  asking  him  what  he  meant,  bursting  into  a  k 
very  audible  aside  to  his  next  neighbor  of,     "What  a  magnifi-  : 
cent  head !" 

"You  must  sit  to  Sphinx,"  said  Wirt  Pinckney,  a  little  while 
after. 

"I?     What  for1?" 

"  Oh,  everybody  does,  just  now  ;  that  is,  everybody  who  can 
get  him.  He's  very  cranky — a  genius  you  know — and  won't 
paint  people  he  doesn't  fancy.  He's  struck  by  you,  and  will  take 
great  pains,  so  you  must  sit  to  him  by  all  means." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  305 

"  He's  the  fashion,"  said  Edith  Parapet,  to  whom  our  hero  re 
ferred  the  point,  "so,  of  course,  for  the  moment,  is  perfection. 
To  be  painted  by  him  is  to  gain  distinction,  of  a  certain  sort.  It 
doesn't  suit  us,  but " 

Gilford  knew  very  well  how  to  fill  up  the  sentence.  Eldon 
Clyde  filled  it  up  in  a  different  manner.  "  There  is  no  more  ef 
fectual  way,"  he  affirmed,  "  of  being  well  advertised,  at  a  small 
expeuse/and  without  too  pointed  an  ostentation.  Very  few,  com 
paratively,  go  to  the  Academy,  but  all  read  the  papers ;  and  the 
papers  that  know  least  about  painting  always  print  most  about 
it ;  and  of  course  they  are  the  ones  that  reach  the  masses.  By 
all  means  let  Sphinx  paint  you  ;  he'll  make  you  a  great  man  be 
fore  you  know  it." 

So  Sphinx  painted  him.  The  artist  was  fond  of  working  by 
surprises.  He  liked  to  dawdle  over  his  work  for  weeks  and 
months  as  a  rule,  but  now  and  then  he  would  produce  a  picture 
with  really  astonishing  celerity.  Gifford  was  very  much  talked 
about  just  then,  and  it  was  quite  in  the  painter's  way  to  finish 
him  in  his  express-train  style,  and  drive  him  into  the  Exhibition. 
So  there  was  Hugh  on  the  walls,  and  on  the  line,  rather  too  hasty, 
rather  too  Byronic  and  Corsairish,  but  still  making  a  very  effec 
tive  picture,  undeniably  like,  and  incontestably  handsome.  And 
there  was  a  rapt  and  admiring  crowd,  chiefly  of  ladies,  ex 
claiming  and  rustling  and  buzzing  before  it.  And  there  was  Mr. 
Salathiel  Doke,  like  a  low-living  Mephistopheles  as  he  was.  doing 
his  utmost  to  excite  and  pander  to  the  lowest  passions  of  Hugh's 
nature.  According  to  him,  there  was  something  signally  meri 
torious  in  having  a  slightly-flattered  effigy  hung  up  in  this  manner 
in  the  public  eye,  a  prima  facie  evidence  which,  like  certain  foreign 
orders,  was  to  be  accepted  as  token  irrefragable  of  desert.  It  was 
the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  what  Doke,  and  all  such  as  Doke, 
most  dutifully  worship — success  ;  the  why  and  Avherefore  had 
no  more  interest  to  him  than  the  coral  insects  would  have  after 
they  had  once  piled  up  what  he  would  call  the  real  estate  which 
now  towered  ostentatiously  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

ki  Talk  of  fame  !"  repeated  Mr.  Doke,  while  the  Vyses,  and 
the  Dimitys,  and  the  Slammerhorns,  and  the  Cranstouns,  and  the 
marriageable  daughters,  and  the  manoeuvring  mammas,  stumbled 
over  one  another,  and  tore  out  each  other's  gathers,  in  the  in 
tensity  of  the  anxiety  to  get  near  the  costly  unage. — "  Look  at 
that  air  I" 

What  a  galaxy  of  worthies  !  There  was  the  general  officer  in 
full  uniform,  sword  on  one  side,  and  what  should  be  yardstick  on 
the  other  ;  there  was  the  last  mayor,  who  made  more  money 


366  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

while  in  office  than  any  even  of  his  most  indefatigable  predeces 
sors  ;  there  was  old  Dimity  himself,  looking  sublimely  conscious 
of  the  regal  qualities  of  cotton  and  his  ministers  ;  there  was  the 
great  statesman,  Doephase,  who  had  taught  the  Northern  people 
those  sublime  strokes  of  wisdom  and  policy  whereby  they  had 
preserved  their  quiet  and  their  dollars  at  the  cheap  cost  of  their 
political  morality  and  their  manhood  ;  there  was  Prodder — 
in  an  obscure  corner  by  the  way — with  a  torn  shirt  collar,  and 
his  hair  on  end,  as  if  the  artist  had  surprised  him  just  after  the 
application  of  some  stimulating  unguent ;  there  wasRullock,  the 
great  shipbuilder,  who,  to  his  honor,  had  grown  to  be  what  he 
was  from  a  poor  dock-laborer  ;  and  there  were  divers  military 
and  naval  heroes,  who  happily  gave  their  professions  the  benefit 
of  their  undivided  talents ;  together  with  a  great  variety  of  other 
worthies  and  notables,  male  and  female,  native  and  foreign. 

But  none  of  these,  however  eminent  or  deserving,  attracted 
the  attention  bestowed  upon  our  young  Croesus.  They  were 
hopeless,  and  dried  up  as  sources  of  favor  or  profit,  while  he  was 
budding  with  the  promise  of  auriferous  benefits  to  come. 

"Dear  Mr.  Blobb,"  said  Mrs.  Cranstoun,  "  as  you  gentlemen 
of  the  press  know  everything — and  make  such  a  good  use  of 
your  time  in  spreading  it — do  tell  me  how  did  he  make  his 
money  ?" 

"  In  strict  secrecy,  then,  dearest  Madam " 

i 'In  strict  secrecy,  of  course." 

"  He  found  some  of  Blackbeard's  treasure  concealed  on  one  of 
the  guano  islands  of  the  Spanish  Main." 

"Bless  my  heart,  how  romantic !" 

"  And  among  a  heap  of  old  parchments — fortunately  preserved 
in  a  steel  skull-cap  worn  by  the  pirate  chief — he  discovered  a  clue 
to  the  secret  of  Captain  Kidd's  buried  wealth,  which,  as  you 
know,  has  always  been  supposed  to  be  hidden  somewhere  on  the 
coast  of  New  Jersey." 

"And  he  found  that,  too  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  by  excavating  to  the  depth  of  nearly  a  hundred  feet  at 
Long  Branch — having  first  purchased  the  farm  where  he  knew 
the  property  lay  concealed." 

"  How  very  extraordinary  I" 

"  Is  it  not  ?  But  they  say  this  is  nothing  to  what  he's  made, 
since  he  came  to  New  York,  in  stocks." 

1 '  Quite  a  Monte  Cristo,  is  he  not '?  But  dear  Julia  thinks 
him  the  very  ideal  of  Byron's  Conrad !" 

"I'm  sure  Miss  Julia  herself  is  more  like  Medora  !  So  deli 
cate,  so  spirtiuelle  as  she  is." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  367 

I 

"Oh,  Mr.  Blobb!" 

"  I  hadn't  the  remotest  idea,"  explained  Gifford  to  Clinton 
Parapet,  "  that  the  wretched  thing  would  be  here,  or  I  wouldn't 
have  coine." 

"  Tut,  what  does  it  matter?  It  helps  Sphinx,  who,  his  affec 
tations  aside,  is  a  very  good  fellow,  and  does  you  no  harm. 
Look  at  that  sketch  of  Milhiis.  It  seems  absolutely  surprised  to 
find  itself  in  such  odd  company." 

"I've  got  some  chiny  things,"  observed  Mr.  Doke,  "screens 
and  things,  that  look  like  that." 

"Oh,  indeed!  Then  I  advise  you  to  get  them  hung  in  the 
Exhibition.  The  more  the  better  of  that  sort.  Come,  Gifford, 
I  want  to  show  you  something  grand  from  a  hand  less  known/' 

The  two  young  men  strolled  into  another  room,  and  stood  be 
fore  a  very  large  painting,  representing  "The  Heart  of  the  Con 
tinent."  Hugh  gazed  at  the  picture  for  a  long  time,  and  sighed. 

"  You  seem  struck  by  it  ?"  said  Clinton. 

"Yes;  the  scenery,  the  coloring,  are  very  familiar  to  me." 

"Indeed?  I  thought  it  ideal,  with  correct  details,  of  course." 

*'  I  think  not.  No  idea  of  an  artist  could  equal  what  he 
would  find  ready-made  to  his  hand,  and  no  one  could  paint  that 
coloring  who  had  not  seen  it." 

"  I  perceive.  Whoever  had  been  on  the  spot  would  have  no 
need  to  draw  on  his  invention.  Excuse  me  a  moment,  I  want 
to  say  a  civil  word  to  old  Dimity." 

Marian  was  to  meet  Hugh  at  the  gallery,  and  in  a  few  mo 
ments  she  was  standing  beside  him.  "I  had  some  trouble  in 
getting  through  the  next  room,"  she  observed,  significantly. 

Hugh  blushed  again,  and  to  the  eyes.  "  It  was  quite  without 
my  assent,  without  my  knowledge." 

"I'm  glad  of  that;  not  that  there's  any  real  harm  that  I  know 
of,  only  it  seemed  unlike  you." 

"Unlike  me,"  mused  Hugh,  as  he  took  a  rose-bud  from  his 
coat  and  offered  it  to  Marian ;  "  I  suppose  you  Tnean,  unlike  as  I 
was  there,"  he  added,  pointing  to  the  picture. 

Marian  uttered  an  exclamation  of  surprise.  "  Why,  it  is  the 
place,  the  very  spot!" 

"You  recognize  it,  then?" 

"Indeed  I  do.  These  hills;  the  little  stream  as  it  wound 
down  the  ravines  between  them ;  the  bold,  distant  mountains. 
I  can  even  see  the  knot  of  trees  where  Luke  and  Ike  and  Lion 
awaited  us  before  we  crossed  the  stream ;  and,  this — this  surely 
is  the  site  of  our  camp." 


368  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"It  is  very  like  it,  certainly,"  said  Hugh,  smiling,  "but  I 
suppose  there  are  many  similar  spots." 

"It  is  the  same,"  said  Marian,  her  eyes  riveted  to  the  paint 
ing,  "always  the  same,  will  ever  be  so.  Unlike  ourselves, 
nature  remains  what  she  has  been,  now  and  for  ever." 

"  Do  you  think  we  change  so  much,  then  ?"  questioned  the 
young  man  in  a  low  voice. 

"Ask  yourself,  Hugh;  are  you  now  quite  what  you  were 
when  you  stood  there  ?" 

"  No ;  I  am  richer,  older." 

"Happier?" 

"  I  ought  to  be,  as  you"  may  fairly  witness." 

"  Would — would  that  we  were  there  again !" 

"What!  so  poor,  so  environed  by  dangers,  so  hopeless!" 

"  Do  not  say  'so  hopeless.'  For  the  world  was  all  before  us  ; 
to  ourselves  the  censure,  if  we  chose  not  well.  As  for  poverty, 
we  lived  and  were  happy  ;  and,  for  dangers,  what  matter  since 
heaven  gave  us  strength  and  courage  to  surmount  them  ?  Ah, 
Hugh !  is  this  crowded,  jostling  world,  with  its  hypocrisy,  its 
parasites,  and  its  gold-worship,  so  much  better  than  the  free, 
open  prairie,  where  man  can  grow  as  God  made  him,  without 
the  warps  and  stunts  and  deformities  which  come  of  over-crowd 
ing  ;  so  that  each  is  trying  to  overreach,  or  overshadow,  or  draw 
sustenance  from  his  neighbor  ?  Is  your  life  the  happier  for  a 
society  whose  only  measure  of  any  man's  merits  corresponds 
with  its  estimate  of  the  length  of  his  purse?  Do  you  really 
feel,  standing  as  we  do  face  to  face  with  those  glorious  plains, 
that  existence  in  a  stifling  city  is  so  much  better,  so  much  nobler, 
as  to  lead  you  to  adopt  it  as  of  a  permanent  choice?" 

"If  you  dislike  the  town,  dearest  Marian,  in  good  time  we'll 
forsake  and  turn  our  backs  upon  it.  Our  friends  are  coming 
home  from  Armstrong's  Bar,  and  we  can  again  join  their  little 
circle.  We  will  search  out  some  charming  rural  home,  where 
the  evils  of  this  surging  city  shall  never  be  seen  or  heard  of; 
where  Lion  and  Ike,  and  those  simple-minded  Armstrongs  shall 
1  be  our  companions,  in  place  of  the  fashionables  you  have  grown 
so  weary  of ;  where  you  can  imagine  yourself  to  be  once  more 
on  the  boundless  plains ;  where- " 

"I  beg  yer  parding,  I'm  sure,"  interrupted  Doke,  bustling 
up  and  apologizing  to  Marian  with  an  awkward  bow,  ' '  but  I 
really  must  interdoose  you  to  Colonel  Ingott — the  great  firm, 
you  know,  Ingott  and  Gollop.  One  o'  the  Sachems,  you  know," 
he  added,  to  Gifford,  in  a  lower  key,  ' '  one  of  our  great  pillars, 
he  is — wuth  a  million  if  he  is  a  cent.  He  kin  do  more'n  most 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  3G9 

any  one  'cept  Clyde  to  put  ye  through.  He's  been  blowin'  to 
Sphinx  'bout  your  pictur.  He's  goin'  to  sit  to  him  himself  as 
Atlas  or  somethink.  Here  he  is,  now.  Colonel  Ingott,  have 
I  the  pleasure  ?  Allow  me !  This  is  Mr.  Gifford,  the  risin' 
millionaire  !  It  really  makes  me  feel  good  to  interdoose  you  two 
gentlemen,  I'm  sure!" 

Pending  the  salutations,  a  long  train  of  Colonel  Ingott's  fol 
lowers  completely  encircled  the  group,  and  our  hero  found  him 
self,  in  a  few  moments,  presented  to  an  imposing  array  of  poli 
ticians,  officials,  and  other  dignitaries.  It  was  not  a  place  of 
customary  resort  with  them,  but  Doke  had  managed  an  im 
promptu  gathering,  to  give  eclat  and  amplitude  to  the  report 
which  would  appear  in  to-morrow's  papers  of  Sphinx's  cJicf 
d*  waive — the  portrait  of  the  future  political  candidate.  The 
latter  was  quickly  the  cynosure  of  an  admiring  band,  at  whose 
approach  Marian  stole  away  like  a  nymph  from  the  advent  of 
so  many  satyrs.  Truly,  Gifrbrd's  prospects  were  waxing  brighter 
and  brighter.  What  with  the  substantial  weight  of  his  gold, 
and  the  judicious  ministerings  of  Doke  and  his  creatures — what 
with  the  pencil  of  Sphinx,  and  the  drums  and  hautboys  of  rival 
mammas,  he  was  fast  rising  into  celebrity,  if  he  did  not  al 
together  promise — as  Eldon  Clyde  suggested — to  become  a 
great  man  before  he  knew  it 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

GOLD  is  a  subtle  and  insidious  destroyer  of  good  resolutions. 
Dangerous  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  it  is  espe 
cially  so  when  it  comes  as  the  product  of  unexpected  fortune 
rather  than  as  that  of  accumulating  and  patient  toil.  Our  hero 
was  quite  right  when  he  thought  himself  for  many  reasons  un- 
suited  to  the  peculiar  social  atmosphere  in  which  his  boyhood 
had  been  passed;  but  he  was  decidedly  wrong  when  he  thought, 
as  he  often  did,  that,  because  he  could  appreciate  and  despise  the 
vulgar  deference'  paid  to  money — the  sordid  uses  to  which  it  was 
put — he  could,  therefore,  in  the  event  of  growing  suddenly  rich, 
become  a  model  of  self-command  and  beneficial  dispensation. 

How  he  had  longed  for  gold  1  What  images  had  he  conjured 
up  of  the  good  he  would  do  with  it,  of  how  it  should  be  the  step 
ping-stone  to  his  own  moral  and  intellectual  development,  of 


370  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

how  lie  would  set  an  example  to  its  grovelling  worshippers,  and 
teach  them  that  man  should  be  its  master  and  not  its  slave.  And 
yet  now,  surrounded  by  pretty  women,  by  cunning  speculators, 
by  social  drones,  ever  ready  to  batten  on  others'  hives ;  led  to 
credit  by  sheer  force  of  iteration  that  he  really  must  be  a  very 
remarkable  person,  and  one  to  be  looked  up  to,  else  wherefore 
had  he  grown  to  be  what  he  was  ? — feted  and  courted,  and  invited 
to  a  degree  which  would  have  been  wearisome  had  it  not  been  so 
very  flattering — our  hero  began  to  grow  sadly  like  the  pattern  of 
Croesus  he  had  once  thought  so  contemptible,  to  drink  in  for 
daily  excitement  the  species  of  incense  he  had  once  so  much 
despised. 

The  tone  of  his  moral  nature  began  to  be  vitiated.  The 
studies  in  constitutional  law,  political  economy,  and  the  like, 
which  lie  had  laid  out  for  himself  when  he  should  once  settle  in 
New  York,  were  first  slighted,  then  postponed,  finally  thrust 
out  of  mind  altogether  and  thought  of  no  more.  What  need 
of  all  those  things  when  people  were  constantly  assuring  him 
that  he  was  so  very  clever  ?  Especially  what  need  when  a  con 
trast  with  Doke  and  his  fellows  assured  him  that  such  know 
ledge  was  at  all  events  not  necessary  to  a  considerable  degree 
of  political  success  ?  If  he  had  been  poor  and  friendless,  these 
attainments  might  be  well  enough  as  weapons  to  fight  his  way 
through  the  throng ;  but  if  the  throng  were  ready  to  concede 
him  a  foremost  place,  merely  on  seeing  the  color  of  his  money, 
why  waste  strength  in  conquering  them  otherwise  ? 

Dearly  as  he  loved  Marian,  too, .  the  force  of  circumstances 
tended  to  weaken  the  influence  for  good  which  she  possess 
ed  over  him.  Long  ago,  when  in  a  different  frame  of  mind, 
he  would  have  comprehended  and  admired  the  delicacy  of  her 
motives  in  deferring  the  period  of  their  union.  But  now,  en 
vironed  by  flatterers  and  sycophants  who  cultivated  the  idea 
that  his  slightest  desires  ought  properly  to  be  met  by  instant 
gratification,  he  reasoned  himself  into  a  half  belief  that  those 
motives  were  based  on  a  foundation  as  ignoble  as  mere  caprice. 
They  saw  much  of  each  other;  but  after  a  time  he  found  it 
somewhat  irritating  when  Marian  questioned  him  as  to  the 
progress  of  his  studies,  the  intended  line  of  his  political  pur 
suits,  or  otherwise  reminded  him  that  the  life  they  had  both 
contemplated  as  being  that  of  his  future  was  one  of  useful  ac 
tivity  and  not  of  luxurious  sloth.  Such  irritation  was  slightly 
felt  at  first.  It  increased  by  slow  and  insensible  degrees.  It 
had  grown  to  grave  proportions  almost  before  Gifford  knew  he 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  371 

had  felt  it  at  all.  And,  by  a  sad  fatality,  it  tended  more  and 
more  to  coolness  and  constraint  as  he  grew  richer. 

For  he  was  day  by  day  growing  richer.  Persuaded  that  he 
had  a  talent  for  speculation,  and  craving  an  excitement  which 
balls,  and  parties,  and  operas,  and  theatres  could  not  entirely 
supply,  he  had  gone  into  Wall  Street,  and  by  some  of  those  in 
explicable  turns  of  luck  which  occasionally  attend  the  wildest 
and  most  ignorant  ventures,  he  had  in  a  few  weeks  nearly 
doubled  his  fortune.  All  he  touched  turned  to  gold  ;  and  the 
elation  born  of  this  fresh  success  did  not  increase  his  humility. 

People  began  to  come  to  him  for  the  use  of  his  name  to  print 
in  lists  of  committees,  corporations,  and  public  meetings.  "  We 
don't  wish  you  to  subscribe,  Mr.  Gifford ;  not  even  to  trouble 
yourself  to  be  present :  we  only  solicit  the  use  of  your  name." 

His  name  !  Only  the  use  of  his  name  !  The  name  which  a 
few  little  months  ago  was  that  of  a  poor,  unknown  wanderer, 
whose  very  connections  would  gladly  forget  that  it  existed,  was 
now  a  spell — a  talisman — to  enlist  the  confidence  of  the  world 
and  command  its  respect. 

';  You  ain't  a  common  kind  of  man,  Mr.  Gifford,"  quoth,  the 
delicate  and  scrupulous  Doke.  "  You  ain't  no  common  man — 
you're  an  INSTITUTION  I"  And  Hugh  actually  began  to  believe 
that  he  was  one. 

Presently  there  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  daily  newspa 
pers  detailed  accounts  of  his  establishment,  his  horses,  his  income 
and  whence  it  came,  with  all  the  embellishments  and  piquant 
exaggerations  wherewith  it  is  the  custom  of  those  fastidious 
prints  to  regale  then-  fastidious  readers.  "  Nothin'  like  it,"  ex 
ulted  Doke,  "  for  makin'  a  man  known.  Yer  chance  is  twice  as 
good  on  a  ticket  when  yer  name's  buzzed  round  amongst  the 
folks,  especially  when  it's  tacked  on  to  accounts  of  things  that 
costs  so  much  money." 

Gifford  soon  found  himself  hand  and  glove  with  various  great 
men,  speculators,  capitalists,  stock  company  makers,  and  political 
sachems.  Among  the  latter  was  that  eminent  man,  Demosthe 
nes  Ingott,  the  senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Ingott  and  Gollop. 
He  was  a  person  of  better  education  and  more  cultivated  address 
than  Gollop  ;  the  latter,  being  chiefly  efficient  as  a  very  hard- 
headed,  practical,  and  determined  man,  who  could  and  would 
manage  and  control  the  lower  order  of  politicians,  with  whom 
the  firm  had  heavy  dealings.  For  Ingott  and  Gollop  were  large 
contractors  and  indefatigable  schemers ;  and  it  was  perpetually 
necessary  for  them  to  "  work"  legislative  and  other  pure-minded 
and  clean-handed  public  servants  in  the  furtherance  of  their 


372  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

schemes.  Mr.  Ingott  was  the  aristocratic,  Mr.  Gollop  the  demo 
cratic  member.  One  pulled  the  wires  which  made  rich  men, 
influential  men,  the  puppets  of  the  higher  circles,  dance ;  the- 
other,  those  which  controlled  the  vicious,  the  low,  and  conse 
quently  the  numerous. 

On  the  first  day  that  Mr.  Ingott  made  our  hero's  acquaintance 
he  proposed  to  him  a  share  in  a  little  speculation  whereby  Gif- 
ford  found  himself,  to  his  astonishment,  a  thousand  dollars  the 
richer  in  less  than  a  week.  Ingott  was  always  helping  his  iViends 
to  make  money  quickly,  and  always  wanting  to  be  paid  in  kind. 
Afterwards  they  had  various  confidential  transactions ;  but  they 
were  nearly  all  of  a  character  which  worked  to  Hugh's  profit ; 
and  he  very  reasonably  congratulated  himself  on  having  met  so 
sagacious  and  good-natured  an  adviser  in  his  monetary  affairs. 
Mr.  Ingott's  political  connection  was  exceedingly  powerful,  and 
Gifford  soon  found  that  by  pleasing  him  he  could  in  all  likelihood 
succeed  in  attaining  almost  any  position  to  which  in  reason  he 
might  aspire. 

This  view  was  fully  indorsed  by  Eldon  Clyde,  of  whom  our 
hero  took  an  early  opportunity  of4  making  a  confidant. 

"  Ingott,"  said  he,  "is  one  of  the  smartest  men  in  America. 
People  talk  against  him,  it  is  true  :  success  always  invites  cal 
umny.  I've  found  him  fair-dealing  enough.  However,  it's  only 
right  to  say  that  he  would  not  dare  attempt  to  overreach  me ;  so 
that  I  may  not  be  the  best  judge.  He  is  very  rich.  That's  be 
yond  question.  As  to  Gollop,  he's  a  coarse,  illiterate  fellow ;  but 
highly  useful  to  Ingott,  and  completely  tinder  his  thumb.  Doke 
is  an  infernal  rascal,  and  can  do  everything  he  says  he  can.  He 
certainly  seems  a  rough  customer,  but  he  has  the  ear  of  influen 
tial  men,  and  they'll  go  far  to  carry  out  his  plans.  When  fifty 
thousand  people  have  votes  which  they  cast  without  having  in 
telligence  enough  to  know  what  for,  middle-men  like  Doke  be 
come  political  necessities.  Only  one  caution  I'd  give  you,  and 
that  is  not  to  trust  him  with  too  much  money.  As  to  running 
for  office,  the  time  is  unfavorable  just  at  present  to  prepare  for 
such  a  thing.  I  recommend  you  to  study  the  board  carefully, 
and  to  wait  a  few  months,  when  I  can  be  of  some  service  to  you 
myself." 

Thus  encouraged,  Hugh  had  no  hesitation  in  embarking  in 
other- of  Ingott's  schemes  of  a  larger  character,  and  was  equally 
prosperous  in  all,  for  the  man's  cunning  was  of  no  ordinary  kind. 
His  whole  soul  was  wrapped  up  in  the  pursuit  of  dollars,  and  he 
had  lived  fifty  years  in  the  chase  ;  so  that  long  experience  whet 
ted  his  natural  instincts  to  an  almost  unerring  certainty  in  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  373 

overtaking  of  his  game.  Why  he  should  admit  others  to  share 
in  spoil  which  he  might  easily  monopolize,  was  not  veiy  appar 
ent.  But  this  belonged  to  a  class  of  considerations  which  par 
ticipants  in  spoil  are  very  ready  to  overlook.  So  Hugh  waxed 
richer  and  richer,  and  troubled  himself  not  at  all  with  Mr.  Ingott's 
motives. 

Meanwhile  he  was  subjected  to  temptation  of  another  sort,  in 
the  beautiful  person  and  fascinating  manners  of  Edith  Parapet. 
That  this  aristocratic  young  lady  would  have  repelled  the  idea 
of  marrying  any  person  of  an  unknoAvn  or  humble  family, 
whether  rich  or  poor,  is  most  true.  But  she  was  excessively 
pleased  with  Hugh  Gifford;  and,  perhaps,  a  tacit  belief  that 
such  a  consummation  was  quite  out  of  the  question,  made  her 
less  cautious  than  she  otherwise  would  have  been.  I  have  said 
she  was  handsome,  with  a  tall,  exquisitely  moulded  figure — not 
like  Marian's,  there  was  not  one  in  ten  thousand  that  was — but 
still  uncommonly  fine  ;  a  delicate  aquiline  nose,  arching  brows, 
coral  lips  curved  like  Diana's  bow,  and  hands  and  feet  which  were 
perfect  studies. 

Yet  it  was  not  physical  attractions  alone  which  constituted 
Edith's  charm.  There  was  a  loftiness  in  her  mien  which,  with 
out  giving  the  least  idea  of  personal  vanity,  and  so  being  in  that 
sense  offensive,  made  her  condescension  marvellously  gracious 
and  winning.  Her  accomplishments  were  many,  and  could  be 
judiciously  employed  ;  but  neither  they  nor  her  beautiful  person 
had  half  the  power  of  her  manner — when  she  chose. 

Now,  she  had  been  accustomed  to  find  this  particular  weapon 
quite  irresistible  ;  and  it  was  not  strange  on  coming  in  contact 
with  the  good-looking,  unequivocally  well-bred,  but  as  unequi 
vocally  reserved,  Hugh  Gifford,  that  she  should  in  time  be 
tempted  to  experiment  to  see  if  he  were  really  so  unimpression 
able  as  he  seemed.  And  Hugh,  perceiving  those  all  but  imper 
ceptible  distinctions,  those  incipient,  half-blown  coquetries  that 
a  lady  of  high  degree  can  show  to  a  man  of  sensitive  nature  and 
quick  perceptions,  without  then*  being  in  the  least  observable  to 
the  rest  of  the  world,  would  have  been  more  or  less  than  mortal 
not  to  have  enjoyed  them.  It  was  a  sort  of  flirtation  which  goes 
on  more  frequently  among  refined  people  than  the  world  is 
aware  of — far  more  frequently  than  the  sort  which  it  is  much 
readier  to  impute,  and  freer  to  censure. 

There  was  not  a  spark  of  intentional  disloyalty  to  Marian 
in  Hugh's  breast.  But  the  flattery  of  a  beautiful  and  distin 
guished  woman's  preference  assailed  him  in  his  weakest  moments. 
It  came  upon  him  when  wealth  had  purchased  adultation,  and 


374  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OB, 

idleness  had  encouraged  dissipation  ;  when  his  egotism  was 
puffed  by  the  worthless  paeans  of  the  sordid  and  the  vulgar,  and 
his  self-respect  was  belittled  by  a  secret,  but  ever  present,  sense 
of  un  worthiness — by  a  sense  of  being  false  to  a  sacred  trust,  and 
hiding  away  his  talent  in  a  napkin.  Still,  he  had  no — not  the 
least — notion  of  infidelity.  His  acquaintance  with  the  family  of 
the  Parapets  had  commenced  before  he  had  discovered  Marian, 
and  it  merely  continued  afterwards  as  it  had  been  before.  It 
never  occurred  to  Hugh — at  least  not  for  a  long  time — that  the 
pleasure  he  found  in  the  society  of  Edith  was  in  any  degree  pur 
chased  at  the  expense  of  his  duty  to  Marian. 

Unhappily,  both  Edith  and  GifFord  had  qualities  which' were 
very  much  admired  in  an  aesthetic  sense  by  the  other.  They 
loved  to  linger  near  one  another,  as  one  lingers  near  a  fine  pic 
ture  or  piece  of  sculpture,  and  with  as  little  sense  of  being 
harmed  thereby.  But  the  harm  was  there,  nevertheless,  and 
threatened  to  break  forth  by-and-by  to  the  misery  of  all  con 
cerned. 

The  pair  were  seen  together  at  the  opera,  at  concerts,  in  the 
park,  walking  in. Fifth  Avenue,  or  in  other  fashionable  resorts. 
They  were  seen  too  often  to  escape  comment,  and  after  a  while 
the  world  began  to  draw  its  inferences.  However,  Mrs.  Parapet 
was  so  generally  present  upon  these  occasions,  and  the  Parapets 
were,  as  a  rule,  so  studious  to  avoid  being  conspicuous,  that  re 
mark  was  not  so  swift  in  spreading  through  the  community  as  it 
might  otherwise  have  been. 

Pending  such  inauspicious  rumors,  there  was  one  day  con 
vened  a  solemn  conclave  in  the  Wall  Street  office  of  Messrs. 
Ingott  and  Gollop.  Mr.  Salathiel  Doke  was  present,  and  joined 
in  the  deliberations.  The  meeting  lasted  for  an  hour  or  more, 
and  broke  up  with  the  emphatic  statement  of  Mr.  Gollop,  con 
fidently  expressed,  after  hearing  all  the  others  had  to  say  on  the 
subject  under  discussion,  "  You  kin  bet  yer  life  that  to  be  a  Con 
gressman's  his  bait !" 

In  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Ingott  waited  upon  Gifford  at  his  house, 
and  unfolded  the  fact  that  he  was-  going  to  confer  upon  that 
gentleman  a  greater  proof  of  his  goodwill  than  ever  before  :  that 
is  to  say,  it  was  open  to  him  to  accept  or  not ;  but  he  should 
have  the  opportunity  of  electing.  The  truth  was,  that  Ingott 
and  Gollop  had  just  entered  into  a  gigantic  contract  with  the 
State  Government,  which  was  absolutely  certain  to  clear  for  the 
contractors  a  profit  of  no  less  than  five  millions  of  dollars  in  less 
than  two  years.  One-eighth  of  this  enterprise  Messrs.  Ingott 
and  Gollop  were  willing  to  allot  to  Hugh  on  so  simple  a  con- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  375 

dition  that  it  amounted  to  a  positive  gift.  This  was  merely  the 
filling  of  a  bond  in  the  extent  of  £250,000,  which  was  one- 
quarter  of  the  security  they  were  obliged  to  give.  The  sum 
was  large,  but  it  would  be  no  inconvenience,  since  the  authori 
ties  would  accept  Gifford's  bond  without  any  transfer  or  tying- 
up  of  property  ;  and  if  he  objected,  it  was  all  the  s^rne,  as  Mr. 
Ingott's  only  wish  was  to  do  his  friend  a  great  service.  More 
over,  his  connection  with  the  affair  would  be  a  material  advan 
tage  in  respect  to  his  political  prospects. 

A  man  who  had  made  his  fortune  by  hard  work,  or  who  had 
not  doubled  it  when  made  by  preposterous  luck,  would  have 
hesitated  over  this  proposition,  and  declined  it.  Not  so  our  hero, 
who  only  saw  in  the  scheme  a  fresh  stride,  whereby  he  wa$  to 
become  four  times  as  rich  as  when  he  came  to  the  great  city. 
Twenty-four  hours  later  saw  him  become,  practically  speaking,  a 
silent  partner  in  the  house  of  Ingott  and  Gollop,  entitled  to  one- 
eighth  of  their  profits — responsible  for  one-eighth  of  their  losses. 
If  he  had  only  been  wise  enough  to  put  his  eggs  in  different 
baskets!  But  it  is  not  alone  "The  wisdom  of  the  Giaour" 
which  "  cometh  after  the  catastrophe  1" 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

"  MY  dear  Edith,"  said  Mrs.  Parapet,  as  they  rolled  in  their 
stately  carnage  through  the  wide  avenues  of  the  Park,  "what 
— now  that  you  have  had  such  good  opportunities  for  judging — 
what  do  you  think  of  Mr.  Gilford?" 

"Think  of  him?" 

"  Do  you  think  him  clear-sighted,  discreet,  sagacious — or 
should  you  esteem  him  obtuse,  frivolous,  conceited  ?" 

"Good  heavens'  Dear  mamma,  are  you  jesting?  Surely 
you  cannot  for  an  instant  suppose  that  any  one  could  apply  these 
latter  epithets  to  Hugh  Gilford?" 

"  But  the  former  ?" 

"  Most  persons,  I  should  say,  would  credit  him  for  having  an 
uncommonly  good  head  for  his  years.  But  really  one  can 
scarcely  tell.  Men  are  so  deceptive ;  and  I  have  seen  so  very 
little  of  him " 

"  Little  of  him  !  Let  me  see ;  he  came  from  Europe,  I  think, 
some  tune  in  September.  It  is  now  past  the  holidays,  although, 


S7G  MARIAN  ROOKE  ;    OR, 

with  so  little,  snow,  it  certainly  seems  incredible.  After  buying 
his  house,  he  spent  a  few  weeks  in  travel.  Since  his  return, 
there  may  have  been  many  days  when  he  has  not  been  at  the 
house,  but  I  cannot  recall  more  than  half-a-dozen  !" 

"  He  has  been  much  with  Clinton,"  said  Miss  Parapet,  playing 
with  the  tassel  of  her  parasol  with  a  delicately  gloved  hand, 
"  and,  doubtless,  has  been  in  the  house  very  frequently  when  I, 
have  not  seen  him." 

"Your  papa  is  much  pleased  with  his  report,  apropos  of  little 
Dimity.  He  thinks  Clinton  is  only  amusing  himself  after  all. 
Dangerous  sport,  perhaps !  But  better  so  than  to  be  frightfully 
in  earnest." 

"  Unquestionably !" 

"Nothing  could  be  so  dreadful  as  for  him  to  compromise  him 
self  in  such  a  manner.  Of  course  they're  very  rich  ;  but  what 
are  riches  in  our  eyes?" 

A  responsive  curl  wreathed  the  aristocratic  lips  of  Edith, 
which  was  observed  by  her  mamma  with  anxious  satisfaction. 

"  You  quite  agree,  my  love,  that  no  considerations  of  money 
could,  or  should,  reconcile  us  to  what  would  be  otherwise  a 
mesalliance  T 

"  Most  certainly." 

"Ah,  Edith,  I  am  so  glad  to  hear  you  say  so." 

Edith  looked  surprised.  "  Did  you  ever  hear  me  express 
myself  otherwise?" 

"Not  in  terms,  my  dear,  assuredly." 

'<  By  implication,  then?" 

"It  is  not  quite  easy  to  answer  that  question." 

"  Not  quite  easy  ?" 

"Since  different  constructions  may  more  readily  be  put  upon 
actions,  in  such  matters,  than  upon  words." 

"  Positively,  mamma,  you're  quite  like  a  Delphic  prophetess 
to-day.  I  really  wish  you'd  think  proper  to  explain  your 
self!" 

They  had  passed  Gifford  and  Clinton  Parapet  a  few  minutes 
before,  and  the  manner  in  which  Edith  had  received  the  former's 
profound  salutation  had  been  the  cue  to  the  mother's  discourse. 
Hugh  was  looking  remarkably  handsome,  and  his  bow  had 
brought  a  peculiar  carnation  to  the  cheek  of  the  proud  girl  be 
side  her,  which  a  score  of  obeisances  from  as  many  different 
cavaliers,  since  their  carriage  entered  the  Park,  had  collectively 
failed  to  produce.  It  was  natural  that  Mrs.  Parapet's  anixety 
should  threaten  to  get  the  better  of  her  prudence  when  she  thus 
marked  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  what  she  had,  for  some 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTCNE.  377 

weeks,  with  maternal  apprehension,  suspected ;  natural  even  that 
it  should  make  her  indifferent  for  the  time  to  the  admiration 
freely  bestowed  on  the  Parapet  vehicle  from  a  hundred  rolling 
equipages  as  they  flashed  by ;  admiration  of  which  the  mamma 
received  her  full  share  as  she  sat  there  wrapped  in  costly  furs, 
and  looking  infinitely  more  like  Edith's  sister  than  her  parent. 

••My  confidence  in  my  dear  Edith's  tact,"  said  the  lady,  after 
a  diplomatic  pause,  "  her  discretion,  and,  above  all,  in  her  just 
regard  for  the  family  position  and  name,  have  been  so  implicit 
that  I  feel  I  ought  to  apologize — even  to  a  child — before  alluding 
to  what  might  appeal*  to  be  a  temporary  forgetfulness  of 
either." 

"  I  am  quite  at  a  loss,  dear  mamma,"  returned  Edith,  in  the 
impenetrable  manner  she  knew  so  well  how  to  assume,  "  to  ap 
prehend  your  meaning." 

"We  were  speaking  of  Clinton,  you  know,  my  love,  and  of 
our  fears  lest  he  should  compromise  himself,  or  the  family." 

' '  And  I  understood  you  to  convey  the  hope  that,  on  the 
whole,  those  fears  were  unfounded." 

"  So  far  as  your  brother  is  concerned,  dear  Edith,  your  papa 
thinks — that  is,  Mr.  Gifford  thinks,  and  your  papa  accepts  his 
opinion — that  they  are  quite  so." 

"Well,  dear  mamma,  as  we  were  quite  agreed  about  the 
nature  of  the  emergency,  quite  in  accord  as  to  its  essentially  ob 
jectionable  character,  and  quite  ready  to  congratulate  each  other 
that  the  danger  is  not  so  imminent  as  we  supposed,  I  really 
don't  see  why  you  should  apologize  to  me  or  any  one  else  for  so 
doing!" 

A  trace  of  vexation  passed  over  Mrs.  Parapet's  face,  but  it 
passed  very  quickly,  and  left  behind  her  most  polished  smile. 

"I  am  not  quite  clear,"  she  resumed,  after  a  moment's  reflec 
tion,  "  that  Clinton  and  Mr.  Gifford  have  been  doing  ea^h  other 
much  good  of  late." 

"Indeed  !" 

"At  first  we  were  well  pleased  that  so  cultivated  a  young  man, 
one  so  free  from  the  dissipations  young  men  now-a-days  are  so  apt  to 
indulge  in.  should  be  Clinton's  associate.  But  I  have  a  suspicion 
that  of  late  they  have  been  encouraging  each  other  in  wildness 
rather  than  in  self-restraint." 

"We  have  seen  no  great  proofs  of  it,  surely.  New  York  is  so 
ready  to  chatter  about  men  without  regular  employment.  It  is 
the  vengeance  taken  by  the  mass  who  have  no  leisure  upon  the 
fewr  who  have." 

"In  any  case,"  continued  Mrs.  Parapet  airily,  "it  can  make 


378  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

no  particular  difference,  since  Mr.  Gifford's  reform,  if  needed,  will 
be  likely  to  follow  swiftly  on  the  heels  of  his  transgression." 

"Why  so?" 

"You  haven't  heard,  then  ?  Do  you  remember  a  Mr.  Riving- 
stone,  connected  with  the  Rivingstones,  you  know,  only  he  lived 
many  years  in  the  South ;  an  old  friend  of  your  papa's,  too,  by  the 
way " 

"  Pray  what  has  Mr.  Rivingstone  to  do  with  Mr.  Gifford,  or 
his  affairs  ?" 

"  Very  much,  since  the  latter  gentleman  is  to  marry  his  ward." 

"Mr.— -Gifford— marry  !" 

"  Why  not  ?  He's  eligible,  isn't  he  ?  Do  you  know  of  any 
lawful  bar  or  impediment  ?  No  !  Very  well  then,  Mr.  Gifford 
is  to  marry  old  Mr.  Rivingstone's  ward.  That  Southern  girl,  the 
brunette,  who  was  so  much  admired  at  the  Egremonts  ;  she  is 
our  young  friend'  ajiancec" 

Edith  made  a  great  effort,  for  the  occasion  called  for  it.  The 
news  came  upon  her  with  the  suddenness  of  a  thunder  clap.  No 
one  who  might  have  taken  pleasure  in  being  its  bearer,  through 
possible  suspicion  of  its  being  unwelcome,  had  happened  to  en 
counter  her  since  it  had  been  whispered  in  society,  so  that  the 
rumor  even  was  absolutely  unexpected.  Mrs.  Parapet  leaned 
quietly  back  in  the  seat,  surveying  Edith's  face  much  as  the  man 
ager  of  an  electrical  machine  studies  those  of  his  victims  when 
he  is  turning  on  the  power.  The  lips  grew  a  little  white  and 
tremulous,  and  the  carnation  slowly  faded  away;  but  the  proud 
sparkle  of  the  eye  was  there,  the  sparkle  which  tells  of  the  effort 
the  will  is  making  to  retain  the  appearance  of  self-possession. 

"  I  don't  believe  it,"  said  Edith,  quietly. 

Her  mother  smiled.  She  knew  her  daughter  perfectly,  and 
was  watching  the  processes  of  her  mind  with  appreciative  sa 
gacity. 

"Pardon  me,  my  dear  child,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to 
the  fact.  And  you  will  forgive  me  if  I  add  that  I  am  not  sorry 
for  it." 

"  You  mean,  of  course,  on  account  of  his  own  and  of  Clinton's 
habits  ?  So  am  I  if  it  be  true,  but  how  do  you  know  it  to  be 
so  1" 

Her  voice  was  so  steady  now,  her  manner  so  assured,  that 
Mrs.  Parapet  looked  at  her  just  an  instant  with  some  alarm. 

"  Surely  you  have  no  reason  to  know  it  is  otherwise  ?" 

"  Not  exactly,"  replied  Edith,  trying  to  smile  in  turn  ;  "yet 
it  is  at  least  improbable  that  a  man  of  his  years  should  have  vis- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  379 

ited  so  frequently  in  a  family  and  made  no  mention  of  a  fact  so 
intimately  connected  with  his  happiness  and  his  future  prospects." 

4k  There  are  circumstances  in  which  such  mention  is  precisely 
the  last  thing  to  be  expected  of  a  man.  I  only  trust  Mr.  Gifford's 
reticence  is  not  connected  with  the  worst  possible  cause  for  it." 

"You  continue  to  puzzle  me,  dear  mamma." 

"  But  if  no  one  complains,  I  suppose  we  must  of  course  acquit 
him.  The  wedding  is  not  to  take  place  until  next  autumn,  I 
hear.  You  do  not  seem  interested  in  our  friend's  engagement, 
my  love  ?" 

"I  simply  disbelieve  in  its  existence." 

"As  to  that,  you  may  be  readily  convinced.  Lewis,  Mrs. 
Cranstoun's  carriage  is  stopping  in  the  square,  this  side  of  the 
Circular  Drive.  Go  to  it." 

The  coachman  touched  his  hat,  and  Edith  turned  pale  again  at 
the  confident  tone  with  which  her  mother  promised  corroboration. 
In  a  few  moments  the  vehicles  were  side  by  side.  Mrs.  Cran- 
stoun  was  speaking  with  some  shadowy  young  ladies,  of  an  un 
certain  age,  in  a  brougham.  The  Misses  Drieiiy  in  fact ;  people 
of  a  respectable  but  bigoted  Kew  England  family,  famous  for 
their  bitter  prejudices,  their  curious  egotism,  their  worship  for 
the  head  of  their  family,  a  litterateur,  whom  they  consoled  for  the 
indifference  of  the  world  by  affecting  to  think  him  a  demi-god, 
and  for  their  pertinacious  efforts  to  insinuate  themselves  into 
society  which  either  was,  or  which  was  reputed  to  be,  above  that 
of  then*  own  proper  degree.  The  Parapets  had  no  knoweldge  of 
the  Drierly  start  her  than  was  implied  by  the  most  distant  of  bows, 
and  had  never  visited  or  been  visited  by  them.  But,  although 
Mrs.  Cranstoun,  who  knew  them  better,  had  said  adieu  before  the 
Parapet  equipage  drove  up,  they  made  some  m  ysterious  excuse 
for  remaining  on  the  other  side  of  her  carriage,  that  even  such 
an  indirect  evidence  of  acquaintanceship  with  the  Parapets  might 
not  be  lost  upon  the  passing  world. 

"  Good  morning,  my  dear  Mrs.  Cranstoun.  I  have  taken  the 
liberty,  perceiving  you  had  stopped,  to  detain  you  for  a  moment 
to  ask  for  the  health  of  our  dear  Julia." 

"  A  thousand  thanks,  dear  Mrs.  Parapet  ;  you  are  always 
kind.  She  is  scarcely  as  well  to-day,  although  the  weather  is  so 
fine.  She  is  delicate  at  best,  poor  thing.  Xo^  like  Miss  Parapet, 
who  has  the  strength  as  well  as  the  bloom  of  the  wild  rose." 

"  Our  family  are  fortunate  in  point  of  health,  certainly  ;  but  it 
is  not  always  the  healthiest  who  last  the  longest." 

"  I  dare  say,  when  my  dear  Julia  gets  older,  she  may  improve. 


380  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

Doctor  Nott*says  the  constitution  is  scarcely  set  before  four  or 
five  anel  twenty." 

"To  be  sure.  How  many  people  are  driving,  are  there 
not  ?" 

"  A  vast  number.  The  weather  is  uncommonly  mild  for  the 
season." 

"Remarkably  so.  A  friend  of  ours — Mr.  Rivingstone — who 
has  been  much  in  the  South,  was  observing  that  it  is  nearly  as 
temperate  thus  far  as  a  winter  at  New  Orleans.  Not  a  chance 
for  skating  ye,t  on  the  lakes." 

"  Mr.  Rivingstone !  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  a  call 
from  him  a  day  or  two  since." 

"  Indeed.  Most  amiable  and  gentlemanly  person,  is  he  not  ? 
How  odd  that  he  should  never  have  married.  He  is  quite  with 
out  a  family." 

"Not  strictly,"  said  Mrs.  Cranstoun,  in  the  pride  of  superior 
knowledge  ;  "he  lives  with  a  sister,  you  know." 

"  Ah,  to  be  sure  ;  I  know  the  sister." 

"  And  then  there's  his  ward,"  pursued  the  other  lady,  in  a  tone 
expressive  of  a  conviction  that  this  piece  of  information,  at  least, 
was  not  held  in  common  ;  "  his  ward,  from  the  South,  a  fine  girl, 
although  rather  too  dark  for  my  taste." 

"  I  saw  her  at  the  Egremonts,  now  you  mention  it.  Beautiful 
eyes  and  teeth,  has  she  not?" 

"Y-es,"  admitted  Mrs.  Cranstoun,  grudgingly,  for  these  were 
neither  of  them  strong  points  with  Julia,  poor  girl.  "  But  dark, 
almost  like  a  quadroon.  By-the-bye,  it's  half  a  secret,  but  she's 
engaged  to  a  friend  of  yours." 

"  So  says  rumor ;  but  I  think  it  rather  doubtful." 

"  By  no  means ;  I  questioned  Mr.  Rivingstone  particularly  ; 
and,  although  he  was  a  little  evasive,  and  said  they  did  not  care 
to  give  needless  publicity  to  the  fact,  he  admitted  definitely  that 
it  was  one." 

"  Ah,  that  puts  it  beyond  question,  I  suppose." 

"Entirely.  He's  so  very  scrupulous;  so  cautious  a  person  is 
Mr.  Rivingstone.  So,  we'll  consider  what  I  repeat  as  entre  nous, 
please." 

"  I  shall  congratulate  Mr.  Gifford  when  I  see  him,  may  I 
not?" 

"  Not  on  my  authority,  if  you'll  oblige  me,  although  it's  quite 
true.  She's  very  charming,  no  doubt.  At  the  same  time  1  be 
lieve  entirely  without  fortune,  and  no  one  ever  heard  of  her  be 
fore  ;  quite  an  obscure  name,  as  one  may  say.  He  might  have 
done  better,  dear  Mrs.  Parapet." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  381 

"  Very  likely  ;  still,  we  must  permit  him  to  judge  for  himself. 
Thanks ;  my  love  to  dear  Julia,  and  good  morning,  dear  Mrs. 
Cranstoun." 

And,  with  a  repetition  of  adieux,  the  vehicles  separated,  leav 
ing  the  Drierly  brougham  in  doubt  whether  to  foUow  the  Cran 
stoun  coupe  or  the  Parapet  barouche. 

"Now,  dear  Edith,"  said  Mrs.  Parapet,  sweetly,  "I  have 
driven  as  much  as  I  care  to  drive  for  the  day,  have  no  calls  to 
make,  and  am  therefore  entirely  at  your  service.  So  if  you 
choose  to  give  Lewis  your  orders,  pray  do  so." 

The  coachman  turned  a  respectful  ear  and  took  them.  They 
were  very  intelligible,  if  very  laconic ;  being  comprised  in  the 
single  monosyDable,  "  Home." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IT  is  an  unfortunate  peculiarity  about  New  York  society  that 
it  affords  little  or  no  occupation  in  the  hours  of  daylight.  There 
are,  to  be  sure,  such  things  as  morning  calls  to  be  paid  there  as 
well  as  elsewhere,  but,  in  general,  they  are  little  indulged  in  save 
among  the  indubitable  Parapets  ;  and  where  a  community  is  so 
exclusively  commercial — where  men  who  are  not  in  counting- 
houses  or  offices  of  a  morning  are  regarded  for  the  most  part 
with  undisguised  suspicion — where  the  majority  of  ladies  devote 
themselves  at  such  times  to  pursuits  whereon  masculine  intrusion 
is  least  agreeable — the  incitements  to  such  social  amenities  are  at 
their  minimum. 

But  the  resources  which  suggest  themselves  to  the  mind,  and 
which,  in  older  cities,  are  lavishly  supplied  in  the  shape  of  art 
galleries,  museums,  reading-rooms,  ancient  architecture,  morn 
ing  concerts,  suburban  excursions  and  other  pastimes,  commonly 
open  to  the  middle  class  stranger  sojourning  in  Europe,  are  as 
yet  in  a  callow  or  infantile  state  in  the  Tyre  of  the  West.  Truly 
there  are  attempts  in  these  directions  which  will  occur  to  the 
critical  Tyrian  himself ;  but  they  are  not  such  as  a  traveller  can 
acknowledge  to  even  approach  the  old  world  achievements  in  the 
same  way. 

Under  these  circumstances,  people  who  are  unfortunate  enough 
to  have  leisure  in  New  York  are  rather  put  to  their  trumps  how 
to  dispose  of  it ;  and  wealthy  American  youth,  or,  for  that  mat- 


382  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

ter,  idlers  of  any  age  or  condition,  are  sadly  apt  to  have  recourse 
to  expedients  which  are  the  reverse  of  profitable  or  edifying. 
In  the  first  place,  by  a  process  familiar  to  ethical  analysts,  leis 
ure  itself  being  commonly  voted  a  crime,  the  unhappy  possessors 
thereof  are  constantly  impelled  to  verify  the  imputation.  In  the 
second,  by  an  equally  natural  provision  flowing  from  the  pre 
sumed  moral  status  of  idlers,  the  net- weavers  or  caterers  of 
pleasure  prepare  what  their  experience  teaches  are  the  most  fas 
cinating  and  profitable  of  dainties.  That  is  to  say,  daylight 
leisure  in  New  York  is  chiefly  devoted  to  lounging  in  hotels, 
playing  billiards,  smoking  cigars,  drinking  drams,  and  driving 
trotting-horses. 

Hugh  Giftbrd  came  upon  the  scene  with  unusual  social  advan 
tages  ;  and,  when  it  is  said  that  even  he,  with  his  prudence,  his 
dislike  of  low  vice,  and  his  honorable  ambition,  began,  after  a 
season,  to  incline  overmuch  towards  these  time-killers,  the  force 
of  the  impulsion  may  be  fairly  estimated.  It  is  true,  that  he  came 
too  easily  by  his  money  to  rightly  measure  the  value  of  time ;  also 
true,  that  he  was  dissatisfied  with  the  state  of  his  relations  with 
Marian;  but  inexperience  and  discontent  together  would  not 
have  led  him  into  the  sort  of  dissipation  he  now  affected  ;  it  was 
because  all  other  men  of  leisure  affected  the  same,  .and  because 
there  was  no  other. 

When  the  social  condition  is  such,  that  wealthy  young  men 
have  no  spurs  of  conscience  to  remind  them  of  a  duty  to  the 
State,  and  when  there  is  little  social  consideration  to  be  gained 
by  work  which  their  gold  has  not  already  purchased  without  it, 
it  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise  that  efforts  should  not  be  made 
which  point  to  nothing^-not  strange  that  aimless  frivolity  should 
take  the  place  of  useful  ambition. 

I  am  not  writing  an  essay  to  prove  the  advantage  of  heredi 
tary  aristocracy,  which  would  be,  at  least  for  many  readers,  "to 
assert  what  they  have  never  seen  denied,  and  distinguish  what 
they  are  in  no  danger  of  confounding;"  and  would  willingly 
escape,  if  possible,  the  censure  Hallam  passed  upon  Tasso.  I 
mean  simply  to  convey  the  idea  that  Hugh  Gifford,  a  rich  young 
man  in  the  great  western  metropolis,  being  beyond  the  necessity 
for  labor,  and  sickened  almost  beyond  measure  by  glimpses  of 
the  political  paths  to  distinction  pointed  out  by  the  crafty-mind 
ed  Doke,  fell  into  ways  he  would  gladly  have  avoided  had  any 
others  presented  themselves. 

Let  us,  if  we  can,  eschew  cant  of  all  sorts.  Let  us  acknowl 
edge  the  good  in  democracy,  manhood  suffrage,  free  soil,  free 
trade,  and,  in  the  reasonable  limits  of  decency  and  taste,  free 


THE  QUEST  FOK  FORTUNE.  383 

speech  as  well :  in  which  enjoyment,  let  us  declare  that,  because 
all  men  vote,  does  not  necessitate  either  a  social  or  a  political 
Utopia ;  its  advantages  may  be  many,  but  it  niaketh  us  not  as 
gods  that  we  worship  the  rabble  and  crown  it  king.  Moreover, 
since  free  speech  is  the  text  of  the  niomont,  let  me  put  upon 
record,  ere  it  slip  my  memory,  that  the  man  who  swears  loudest 
there  is  no  Salathiel  Doke,  is  surely  he  who  most  employs  and 
profits  by  him. 

Hugh  did  not  altogether  abandon  his  political  projects.  He 
held  the  whole  scheme  under  advisement.  Mr.  Clyde  had  gone 
into  the  interior  of  the  State  to  arrange  the  machinery  of  a  com 
ing  election.  He  would  soon  return,  and  then  our  hero  would 
seek  his  advice,  and,  perhaps,  abide  by  it.  There  was  certainly 
one  thing  about  Eldon  Clyde's  advice  which  made  it  rather  dif 
ferent  from  other  people's,  which  was,  that  in  most  cases  he 
could  back  it  up  if  he  liked  by  insuring  success  in  the  path  he 
counselled.  Pending  his  rural  wanderings,  Clinton  and  Hugh 
were  killing  time  together. 

Clinton,  assailed  by  father,  mother,  and  friend  together,  had 
made  oath  that  he  really  was  not  in  love  with  Flora  Dimity.  If 
it  would  afford  them  any  satisfaction,  he  would  give  up  driving 
her  in  the  park,  most  certainly.  It  had  been  merely  a  harmless 
attention  on  his  part,  and  he  Avas  quite  confident  the  young  lady 
herself  had  not  misconstrued  it.  She  was  a  good  partner,  waltz 
ed  nicely,  altogether  a  pretty,  lively  girl,  full  of  vivacity — the 
most  attractive  blonde  he  had  ever  seen  in  fact — but  as  to  any 
thing  serious,  tut !  he  had  never  thought  of  such  a  thing. 

The  truth  was,  Clinton  had  a  hereditary  aversion  from  being 
bored,  and  bored  he  knew  he  would  infallibly  be,  were  he  to 
make  any  other  professions,  adopt  any  other  policy  respecting 
Flora  Dimity,  than  those  he  avowed.  But  a  close  observer 
would  have  soon  detected  in  the  young  gentleman  marks  of  dis 
quietude.  He  began  to  smoke  cigars  of  a  morning,  and — omi 
nous  symptom  of  a  perturbed  soul ! — to  drink  champagne  cock 
tails.  He  also  took  long  drives  into  the  country,  now  crossing 
by  the  ferries  and  penetrating  into  Long  Island,  and  now  plung 
ing  northward  until  he  had  left  Harlem  and  King's  Bridge  far 
behind.  .Both  he  and  Hugh  Gifford  were  in  capital  frame  of 
mind  to  encourage  each  other  in  folly — and  they  did  so. 

"  You  see,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Clinton,  with  that  ready 
employment  of  commonplaces  men  often  display  when  some 
thing  out  of  the  common  has  dictated  their  action ;  "you  see 
why  it  is  we  travel ;  there's  really  nothing  for  it  here  but  to 
drink,  smoke,  play  billiards,  and  drive  fast  horses.  The  women 


384  MARIAN   ROOKE  J    OR, 

are  charming,  of  course ;  but  since  to  be  out  of  your  cage  of  a 
morning  is  a  sign  of  bankruptcy,  or  something  worse,  they  don't 
care  to  harbor  us  by  daylight.  We  have  an  afternoon  drive  in 
the  park ;  we  have  dinner  and  a  cigar  at  the  clubs  ;  a  soapcon  too 
much  en  bourgeoise  perhaps  ;  a  lounge  at  the  opera  ; — all  very  well 
from  four  to  twelve,  but  that's  only  eight  hours  out  of  the  twen 
ty-four." 

"  Why  not  get  up  an  Idler's  Club,"  suggested  Gilford,  puffing 
lazily  at  his  havana,  "  to  reduce  the  art  of  doing  nothing  to  the 
most  exquisite  and  symmetrical  practice  ?  No  one  to  be  admit 
ted  of  whom  it  can  be  proved  that  he  has,  or  is  ever  likely  to 
have,  any  thing  whatever  to  do.  You'd  make  a  capital  president, 
and  I  think  I  could  draw  up  a  very  good  set  of  by-laws." 

"The  most  emphatic  of  which,"  said  Clinton,  pursuing  the 
idea,  "  should  be  that  no  one  in  trade  should,  under  any  possible 
pretext,  be  admitted." 

"Nay,  such  a  prohibition  must  not  be  pronounced,  not  expli 
citly  in  terms,  that  is.  It  would  be  included  in  the  comprehen 
sive  generality  of  having  something  to  do.  To  have  such  a  clause 
literally  set  forth  in  so  democratic  a  community,  were  to  invert 
the  object  of  the  association,  and  to  give  us  speedily  something  to 
do  with  a  vengeance." 

"  True,  true.  The  republican  gorge  riseth  at  the  notion  of 
dignified  ease,  as  does  that  of  the  fiend  at  the  sacred  water.  It 
might  be  well,  to  insure  quiet,  to  aifect  that  we  were  engaged  in 
some  most  arduous  and  exacting  toils." 

"Seeking  the  Philosopher's  Stone,  for  example." 

"  Our  countrymen  would  not  believe  that  capital  was  invested 
in  so  unpractical  an  object,  and  it  would  rouse  their  suspicions." 

"  The  object  being  for  the  sake  of  lucre  !" 

"  The  goal  is  well  enough,  but  the  path  to  it  would  excite 
distrust.  Better  some  new  device  for  making  cloth  without  cot 
ton — walls  without  mortar — bricks  without  straw." 

"  Or  scholars  by  steam,  without  the  drudgery  of  a  curriculum. 
Why  waste  years  in  laborious  accumulation,  when  an  active  pis 
ton  may  thrust  in  the  whole  mass  in  a  twinkling  ?" 

"  Such  a  machine  would  be  useful  in  many  ways,  as  in  the 
manufacture  of  statesmen  and  diplomatists,  seeing  that  as  we 
change  them  every  four  years,  a  large  supply  ought  properly  to 
be  kept  on  hand." 

"Jene  vois  pas  lo  necessite"  said  Hugh,  recurring  bitterly  to  his 
lengthy  experience.  "The  candidates  have  need  of  long  purses 
rather  than  of  any  other  qualifications  ;  and  my  friend,  Mr.  Doke, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  385 

is  as  efficacious  as  any  patent  machine  could  be  in  filling  the 
niches  when  occasion  serves." 

•'I'm  rather  surprised  that  any  one  should  give  himself  the 
trouble,"  returned  Clinton ;  "  but  every  one  to  his  taste." 

"  <  "Tishis  vocation,  Hal.'  He  makes  public  servants  to  order 
for  so  many  dollars  a  piece,  as  Mr.  Dimity — no  offence — sells  bom 
bazine,  or  as  the  Optimist  murders  reputations,  all  in  the  way  oi 
business." 

"  Heaven  keep  him  still  in  that  mind,  then,  since  it  saves  a 
world  of  labor  to  the  Parapets  ! " 

"Exactly.  The  Parapets  rust  that  Dokes  may  shine  ;  and 
the  latter,  instead  of  being  grateful,  are  for  ever  abusing  even 
your  very  shadows.  They  revile  in  the  same  breath  that  they 
vow  you  are  mythical.  They  reign  through  a  species  of  indolent 
sufferance,  whilst  they  swear  to  the  people  it  is  by  divine  right." 

"  Let  them  swear  what  they  like,  and  the  people  choose  to  be 
lieve,"  quoth  Clinton,  indolently;  "so  they  leave  us  alone. 
There  is  one  thing  which  troubles  me  sorely  just  now,  a  thing 
which  you  may  have  forgotten — there  is  no  opera  to-night." 

"No  opera  !" 

"  Ergo,  there  is  nothing  to  do.  There  is  no  ball,  no  party  to 
fill  up  the  blank,  save  the  conversazione  at  those  appalling  Drierlys. 
We  voted,  you  remember,  that  nothing  but  brute  force  should 
drag  us  thither ;  and  what  remains  ?" 

"One  of  the  theatres  perhaps." 

"  Irish  comedy  for  pit  and  gallery ;  Irish  farce  for  pit  and  gal 
lery  ;  Irish  stuffed  stick,  lilt,  broken  hat,  tail  of  my  coat,  virtuous 
maid,  broth  of  a  boy,  cruel  agent  of  absentee  landlord,  beast  of 
an  English  officer,  who  knows  how  to  read  and  write  and  has 
clean  hands,  insults  virtuous  maid,  and  is  knocked  down  by  stuffed 
stick  and  broth  of  a  boy  for  pit  and  gallery !  Faugh  !  The  thing 
is  beyond  measure  offensive,  preposterous,  and  untruthful." 

"  But  all  the  theatres  don't  do  Irish  pieces." 

"Too  many  of  them  do.  Your  friend  Doke's  constituency  is 
heavy.  The  exceptions  are  scarcely  more  inviting  ;  high  comedy, 
with  uneducated  counter-jumpers  trying  to  ape  the  fine  gentle 
man  ;  over-dressed  Heb  rews,  with  bushels  of  hair  and  tons  of 
jewelry  for  jeunes  premieres  ;  and  peacock- voiced  women,  buried 
in  finery  for  every  character,  no  matter  how  incongruous,  with 
manners  like  those  of  a  dissipated  governess,  for  fineladies.  Why, 
these  people  have  not  the  remotest  idea,  the  faintest,  how  the 
beings  walk,  talk,  dress,  think,  or  feel,  they  conceive  themselves 
to  be  imitating  !" 

"But  if  their  audiences  have  no  better,  what  harm  ?" 

17- 


386  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

"Ah,  that  indeed  !  But  you'll  observe  such  a  fact  makes  the 
exhibition  rather  more,  than  less,  distasteful  to  any  accidental  ex 
ception.  We  have  no  national  comedy,  nor  shall  we  have  yet 
awhile." 

"There  are  no  national  standards — I  mean  in  the  way  of  so 
ciety — except  the  Parapets,  and  they  cannot  well  be  copied  if  they 
are  never  seen." 

u  Ah,  but  if  they  were  seen,  the  people  would  not  care  for  the 
example.  The  mass  cares  not  to  reproduce  that  which  does  not 
reflect  itself.  By  and  by,  with  the  attrition  of  years  and  the  cos 
mopolitan  taste  which  comes  with  a  maturer  civilization,  things 
may  change.  Not  now." 

"But  we  may  eschew  Thalia  for  Melpomene." 

"Better,  but  still  objectionable.  The  ideal  of  Tragedy  is 
represented  by  the  neck  and  lungs  of  Taurus  bellowing  ultra- 
isms  about  the  glory  of  ignorance.  Dignity,  pathos,  hatred, 
despair,  must  be  depicted  as  the  lowest  types  of  mankind  would 
express  or  try  to  express  them,  else  they  reach  not  the  popular 
heart.  There  can  be  no  school  where  the  artist  works  down  to 
a  level,  and  never  up  to  one." 

"  Alas!   we  exc^l  in  nothing,  then,  it  would  seem." 

"Oh  dear,  yes.  In  industry,  invention,  enterprise,  all  that 
goes  to  make  up  a  rapid  national  growth,  do  we  not?  But 
scarcely  in  matters  aesthetic,  social  grace,  art,  and  so  on.  In 
these  we  are  yet  in  our  infancy,  and  perhaps  it  is  well  we  are 
so;  since  the  energies  of  the  nation  being  directed  to  that  which 
is  more  immediately  practical  and  necessary,  accomplish  the 
more  through  being  undivided." 

"  Assuming  this  to  be  true,  it  is  very  unfortunate  that  it 
should  be  so  hazardous  to  say  it.  The  burthen  of  our  universal 
song,  briefly  speaking,  is  brag ;  and  who  interrupts  the  chorus 
is  beaten  for  his  pains.  Alas !  that  democracies  should  be  more 
ready  to  stone  their  prophets  than  despotisms  !" 

"And  yet  what  more  natural?  Since,  where  all  are  equally 
powerful  and  equally  responsible,  the  self-love  of  each  is  wounded 
by  the  suggestion  of  a  national  weakness  or  deficiency :  it  is  not 
the  philosopher  but  the  ignoramus  who  writhes  under  such  a 
stigma.  Foreigners  continually  marvel  at  the  Americans  being, 
as  they  say,  so  thin-skinned,  piquing  themselves  in  the  same 
breath  for  being  so  pachydermatous,  and  forgetting  that  the  sus 
ceptibility  to  improvement  is  implied  by  the  one,  and  the  con 
trary  by  the  other." 

"  But  if,  as  you  admit,  we  stone  our  prophets •" 

"  Ay,  but  we  never  forget  what  they  say !  A  glorious  conso- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  387 

lation  to  existing  or  intending  martyrs,  without  which,  perhaps, 
there  would  be  no  new  ones." 

"  Apropos,  they  tell  me  the  Drierlys  invariably  cage  all  the 
Wise  Men  of  the  East  who  may  happen  to  be  running  at  large, 
to  give  eclat  to  their  shows ;  since  you  can't  stand  the  poor  his- 
trions,  what  say  you  to  being  bored  for  an  hour  and  trying  the 
magi  ?" 

"  Agreed  ;  on  one  condition." 

"  Which  is " 

"That  we  really  do  come  away  in  an  hour.  That  delightful 
mixture  of  Puritanism,  mutual  admiration,  provincialism,  and 
Mrs.  Grundyism  becomes  rather  exhausting  after  sixty  minutes. 
Besides,  we  are  not  in  the  highest  favor,  you  must  know." 

"  And  why  not,  pray?" 

"  Simply  that  nothing  can  induce  Mrs.  or  Miss  Parapet  to 
darken  the  Drkrly  doors,  notwithstanding  their  quasi-literary 
position.  Of  course,  they're  not  in  our  set,  and  equally  of 
course,  liberal  folk  overlook  punctilio  in  the  cases  of  clever 
writers.  But  there  is  something  in  the  Drierly  atmosphere 
which  the  female  Parapet,  however  graciously  entreated,  abso 
lutely  declines  to  breathe ;  so  that  the  males,  albeit  courteously 
received,  are,  in  a  manner,  accepted  under  protest." 

"I  see.  These  gentry  are  parvenus  like  myself;  but,  unlike 
myself,  wish  to  manoevre  their  way  to  circles  where  they  are 
not  quite  wanted." 

"It  might  be  too  harsh  to  say  that;  but  I  fear  they  would 
prefer  to  be  uncomfortable  in  such  than  at  ease  where  better 
known.  The  way  of  the  world ;  only  I  suppose  more  con 
spicuous  here  because  of  the  absence  of  nominal  or  legal  social 
distinctions,  so  that  the  incongruity  between  profession  and 
practice  looks  sharper  by  contrast.  None  will  insist  more  elo 
quently  than  the  Drierlys  on  democratic  equality ;  they  affect 
to  despise  a  stray  Englishman  who  happens  to  bear  a  title 
through  no  fault  of  his  own ;  and  yet  almost  their  whole  lives 
are  passed  in  a  bitter  struggle  for  access  to  strata  of  society 
they  think  better  or  higher  in  general  repute  than  that  they 
now  flourish  in." 

"Ah,  you  are  jealous  because  they  have  what  you  are  so  de 
ficient  in — a  laudable  ambition!" 

"  I  will  present  you  as  their  champion  !  Being,  like  them 
selves,  born  and  bred  in  New  England,  they  will  receive  you 
with  open  arms !" 

; '  That  will  scarcely  be  consistent  with  their  character,  as 
you  draw  it,  when  they  learn  the  obscurity  of  my  origin." 


388  MARIAN   ROOKE;   OR, 

"  Tut,  man !  that  is  where  their  democracy  comes  in  ;  the 
obscurity  of  your  origin  would  doubtless  be  damnatory  but  for 
the  extenuating  circumstances.  They  certainly  wouldn't  see 
you  but  for  those.  But  the  Drierlys  are  too  democratic  to  look 
fororigin  when  the  obscure  one  stands  in  a  halo  such  as  yours. 
*  A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that,'  invariably  with  them — when  he's 
rich  and  keeps  a  carriage  /" 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  Drierlys  were  a  peculiar  family.  Generally  speaking,  the 
impression  they  made  on  the  mind  of  a  stranger  was  that  they 
were  very  bigoted,  very  provincial,  very  well  educated  in  veiy 
narrow  limits,  very  ambitious  in  a  social  point  of  view,  and  very 
conceited.  Physically,  they  were  very  much  alike,  so  that  there 
was  always  some  doubt  about  telling  one  from  another.  They 
were  skinny,  sallow,  with  hair  of  feeble  whity-brown,  and  color 
less  eyes,  and  were  each  and  all  of  a  semi-diaphanous  character, 
so  that  for  one  of  the  family  to  melt  slowly  away  before  your 
eyes  would  hardly  have  excited  your  astonishment  or  consterna 
tion. 

The  Drierlys  were  also  remarkable  people  politically.  They 
came  originally  from  New  England,  and  indeed  always  seemed 
out  of  their  element  in  New  York.  They  combined,  in  a  very 
happy  manner,  the  Puritanic  and  the  literary  character — the 
strange  mingling  of  asceticism  and  belles-lettres,  the  yearning  for 
intellectual  flesh-pots  with  a  morbid  regard  for  appearances — 
which  grows  indigenously  in  i^e  atmosphere  of  Boston.  Pro 
fessedly,  they  were  ardent  democrats,  and  advocated  strenuously 
a  levelling  process  to  be  applied  to  all  above  them  ;  whilst  all 
below  they  wished  to  be  vigorously  kept  at  a  distance.  Thus 
they  positively  loathed  the  presumed  assumption  of  the  Parapets ; 
but  they  had  rather  take  serpents  into  then*  houses  than  people 
with  less  money  or  inferior  social  position  than  their  own. 

A  Drierly,  if  questioned  on  the  point,  would  have  professed  to 
be  a  cosmopolitan.  America  was  the  country  which  opened  its 
arms  to  all  races  and  conditions  of  men  ;  all  were  welcome,  for 
all  mankind  were  brothers.  Unhappily  this  proved,  upon  close 
investigation,  to  be  merely  a  theoretical  fraternity  :  for  the  hatred 
of  the  Drierlys  for  other  nations  was  found  to  be  of  the  nature 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  389 

of  an  absorbing  passion.  Most  especially  they  hated  England  ; 
assuming,  in  all  eases,  that  every  Englishman  they  met  v>'as  in 
dividually  responsible  for  every  error  in  judgment  or  policy  the 
government  of  his  country  had  ever  committed.  But  then*  aver 
sion  was  tolerably  comprehensive ;  embracing  all  foreigners  who 
did  not  promptly  declare  that  their  own  country  was  a  hell  and 
America  a  heaven,  of  which  the  Drierlys  were  highly  conspicu 
ous  and  eminent  ministering  angels. 

This  charitable  characteristic  of  the  Drierlys,  however,  began 
very  fairly  and  handsomely  at  home.  They  disliked  people  of 
their  own  country  in  proportion  to  their  distance  from  themselves, 
and  opposed  slavery  rather  because  they  hated  slaveholders  than 
because  they  pitied  the  slaves.  As  their  countrymen  flourished 
nearer  and  nearer  to  their  own  home,  the  animosity  of  the 
Drierlys  was  slowly  mitigated  ;  but  it  was  only  those  of  their 
immediate  set,  circle,  or  clique  that  they  regarded  with  unalloyed 
approbation  ;  and  to  obtain  this  seal  it  was  needful,  as  a  rule,  to 
pay  tribute  of  some  sort  to  the  family. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  sweetness  and  amiability  of  the 
Drierlys  as  shown  to  those  who,  from  their  wealth  or  position, 
could  afford  them  a  stepping-stone  upward,  and  fortify  their 
worldly  consideration  ;  except,  indeed,  the  indifference,  if  not 
bitterness,  with  which  they  treated  those  who  might  once  have 
served  them,  and  could  no  longer  do  so.  Such  as  were  in  this 
unlucky  category,  most  especially  if  the  world  had  treated  them 
hardly,  the  Drierlys  regaled  with  a  mixture  of  acrimony  and  con 
tempt  refreshing  to  behold,  and  delicious  to  partake  of. 

The  station  claimed  by  the  Drierlys  rested  upon  somewhat 
strange  foundations,  consisting  mainly  in  certain  dry  and  didac 
tic  lucubrations  contributed  to  the  literature  of  his  country  by  the 
head  of  the  family  some  half  a  century  before.  These  productions, 
inoffensive  and  respectable  enough  in  their  way,  were  assuredly 
of  too  bloodless  and  negative  a  type  either  to  possess  abiding  in 
fluence,  or  to  justify  the  hope  of  a  brilliant  reputation.  But  from 
the  paucity  of  rivals,  and  the  blamelessness  of  their  author's 
private  life,  people  were  willing  to  accord  them  higher  consider 
ation  than  his  writings  intrinsically  deserved.  It  was  not  sur 
prising  that  this  element  of  kindly  concession  somehow  escaped 
the  eye  of  the  Drierlys,  or  that  they  cherished  a  profound  con 
viction  that  their  illustrious  relative  had  clearly  won  a  wreath, 
to  which  those  of  the  greatest  sages  of  the  elder  world  were 
but  as  dust  and  tinsel. 

Personally,  the  old  gentleman  was  not  prepossessing,  nor  did 
he,  to  appearance,  bear  his  honors  over  meekly.  He  was  of  an 


390  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

austere  presence,  as  if  ever  fearful  of  his  state  being  infringed, 
and,  albeit  a  profusion  of  snowy  hair  and  beard  gave  reverence 
to  his  face,  they  did  not  give  it  benignity.  He  was  reputed  to 
rule  his  household  by  no  law  of  kindness,  and  to  exact  a  species  of 
deference,  if  notof  homage,  which  is  worse  than  worthless,  other 
wise  than  as  the  freewill  offering  of  love.  When  he  stood  by,  no 
dog  was  permitted  to  bark  ;  and  any  stranger  who  might  be 
caught  smiling  at  what  appeared,  considering  all  things,  a  ludi 
crous  exaggeration,  was  cut,  tabooed,  ostracized,  sent  to  Coven 
try,  clone  anything  to  which  the  genius  of  the  Drierlys  could  de 
vise,  or  their  malice  compass. 

Flowing  from  such  a  source,  there  was  a  flavor  of  solemn  hum 
bug  in  the  mansion  of  the  Drierlys,  which  inspired  awe  or  ridi 
cule  according  to  the  experience  or  susceptibility  to  the  absurd 
of  the  visitor.  There  was  a  pomp  and  circumstance  which  were 
systematically  tried  on  all  new  comers,  and  which  were  supposed 
to  be  accepted  as  matters  of  course  by  those  whom  the  family 
patronized,  or.  in  general,  who  were  in  a  position  to  stand  it. 
For  those,  on  the  other  hand,  upon  whom  the  display  would  make 
no  impression,  and  whom  it  was  yet  worth  while  to  propitiate, 
there  was  an  affectation  of  overflow — a  gay,  light-hearted,  affec 
tionate  abandon  which  was  marvellously  effective  ;  that  is  to  say, 
with  people  who  were  deficient  in  that  faculty  so  largely  possessed 
by  Americans,  a  swiftness  in  detecting  what  is  inconsistent  with 
common  sense. 

Mrs.  Drierly  was  seldom  seen,  but,  as  has  been  before  ob 
served,  the  extraordinary  resemblance  which  subsisted  made  it 
really  quite  immaterial  which  of  the  feminine  branches  should 
do  the  honors  upon  any  given  occasion.  It  was  sure  to  be  some 
body  who  was  peaked,  thin-voiced,  semi-transparent,  well  up  in 
the  ologies,  austere  to  inferiors,  sycophantic  to  superiors,  rev 
erential  to  the  head  of  the  house,  adroit  as  a  stirrer  up  of  lions, 
intensely  national  in  the  Drierly  sense,  and  n  cordial  hater  of  all 
dissentients. 

Thus,  when  Gifford  and  Clinton  Parapet  were  ushered  up  from 
the  hall,  they  were  met  near  the  landing  by  a  diaphanous  Some 
body  who  received  them  with  pale  affability,  and  a  series  of 
courtesies  expressive  of  profound  welcome,  such  as  was  fitting 
to  the  advent  of  a  Millionaire  and  a  Parapet. 

u  We  are  very  gay  to-night,"  said  this  ghostly  Being,  in  an 
acidulated  and  slightly  nasal  accent,  "  although  promiscuous. 
Talk  has  been  lively.  There  are  a  good  many  ladies  round.  Pa' 
and  Professor  Sukkar  have  conferred  on  immortality.  Pa'  is 
speaking  now.  H-u-s-h !" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  391 

This  last  monosyllable  was  directed  to  the  servant  who  had 
flung  open  the  drawing-room  door,  through  which  a  hollow 
voice  was  heard,  as  from  the  tombs,  discoursing  within. 

''Man,  then,"  pursued  the  Voice  with  that  assurance  which 
indicates  no  fear  of  contradiction,  kt  will  be  precluded  by  no  sub 
terranean  devices  from  asserting  perennial  spiritual  elasticity ; 
since,  even  if  driven  to  estimate  the  subject  with  the  eye  of  the 
physicist,  we  shall  find  that  by  some  occult  and  deeply  myste 
rious  processes  of  percolation  he  shall  divest  himself  of  his 
trammels,  and  soar  into  the  empryean  upon  pinions  devoid  of 
corporeal  ponderosity!" 

'•  That's  so,"  endorsed  another  voice  near  the  door,  in  which 
Hugh,  to  his  amazement,  recognized  the  tones  of  Mr.  Doke. 

"  Misther  Parapet  and  Misther  Gifford !"  announced  the  do 
mestic,  who  had  evidently  been  trained  to  watch  for  periods. 
A  buzz  of  admiration  ran  round  the  apartment  at  the  imposing 
names,  and  that  general  flutter  succeeded  among  the  Drierlys 
and  their  adherents  which  always  attended  the  arrival  in  their 
circle  of  wealth  and  station. 

"Ladies!"  said  the  Head  of  the  family,  rising  from  his  chair 
of  state,  and  standing  in  front  of  it,  flanked  by  two  large  solar 
lamps,  which  beamed  upon  him  with  quite  a  picturesque  effect, 
— "ladies — Mr.  Parapet,  Mr.  Gifford.  Gentlemen— 4Ir.  Par 
apet  Mr.  Gifford.  Mr.  Parapet,"  he  added,  unctuously,  "knows 
full  well  how  welcome  he  is  here,  and  that  whoever  calls  Mr. 
Parapet  friend  is  no  less  so.  Many  of  you  know  Mr.  Parapet : 
Mrs.  Camomile,  Mrs.  Cranstoun.  Mrs.  Dimity — Mr.  Parapet. 
Some  of  you  do  not  know  Mr.  Parapet :  Miss  Steelyard  of  Bos 
ton,  Miss  Rooke,  Miss  Cranstoun,  Miss  Dimity — Mr.  Parapet, 
Mr.  Gifford.  I  beg  pardon !  Miss  Rosette  P.  Aloe,  M.D., — 
Mr.  Parapet,  Mr.  Gifford." 

A  profusion  of  bows  and  courtesies  followed  this  partly  super 
fluous  introduction. 

••  Professor  Sukkar  of  Heidelberg,  the  great  Psychommetri- 
cal  Idealist — Mr.  Parapet,  Mr.  Gifford.  Major  Gollop,  the 
great  capitalist  and  speculator ;  Mr.  Doke,  the  eminent  politi 
cian  ;  Mr.  Moke,  the  far-famed  abolitionist ;  Mr.  Coke,  the  cel 
ebrated  lawyer ;  Mr.  Prodder,  the  warbler  of  nature  ;  Mr.  Jobb, 
of  the  Post  Office  ;  Mr.  Schwindel,  of  the  Custom  House ;  Mr. 
Whiting  Blobb,  of  the  Centurion;  Mr.  Grindle  of  the  Moon;  etc., 
etc. — Mr  Parapet,  Mr.  Gifford." 

Mr.  Drierly  here  sunk  back  exhausted  into  his  chair,  and  our 
two  friends  had  time  to  glance  comprehensively  about  the  large 
rooms,  which  communicated  by  a  lofty  arch,  arid  around  which 


392  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

the  company  were  gathered  in  a  circle,  or  rather  in  an  ellipse, 
at  the  upper  end  of  which  was  the  Drierly  dais.  Scarcely,  how 
ever,  had  they  seated  themselves,  when  a  little  gentleman  with 
green  glasses  and  no  hair,  who  sat  on  the  right  of  the  host, 
leaped  spasmodically  to  his  feet,  and  exclaimed : 

"  Penetrated  wiz  a  lively  sense  of  de  greatness  of  dis  glorious 
country,  even  I,  de  poor  exile,  dus  expatriated,  must  agree  to 
tank  our  world-famous  patron  for  giving  me  opportunity  to 
make  acquaintance  wiz  dose  distinguished  shentlemens.  Vash 
it  not  for  interrupting  the  vonderful  vords  of  our  world-famous 
patron,  more  as  dis  might  I  say ;  but  no  vords  of  mine  can  be 
allowed  to  shtop  dose  rays  of  vishdom  wherein  we  bashk  as  in 
de  noon-day  sun — dose  rays  of  de  glorious  orb,  like  him,  which 
truth  sprinkles  and  light  diffuses!" 

"Oncore!"  cried  Mr.  Blobb,  immediately  taking  down  this 
speech  in  shorthand,  while  Miss  Aloe  rapped  on  the  mantel 
piece  with  her  fan,  and  a  general  murmur  of  satisfaction  ran 
round  the  apartment. 

"  Our  friend,  Professor  Sukkar,  while  he  does  justice  always 
to  our  majestic — our  towering  land — over-rates,  perhaps,  my 
humble  capacities."  (Murmurs  of  "No!  no!")  "It  is  not,  to 
be  sure,  given  to  all  to  grapple  with  the  tremendous  problems 
of  our  Hfe  and  being  with  precisely  equivalent  perspicacity,  for 
men  have  different  gifts.  Every  man  has  his  gifts."  ("  Every 
man  has  his  baits,"  growled  Mr.  Gollop,  from  his  corner.)  "Not 
to  the  humble  but  industrious  mole  is  given  the  eagle  eye  which 
glares  undimmed  upon  the  gorgeous  luminary  of  day,  yet  he  is 
not  deficient  in  compensatory  advantages  which  atone  even  for 
the  absence  of  so  valuable  a  faculty.  Not  to  the  capitalist" — 
(a  bow  from  Gollop) — "not  to  the  journalist" — (ditto  from 
Blobb) — "  not  to  the  physician" — (the  same  from  Dr.  Rosette 
P.  Aloe) — "nay,  not  even  to  the  Psychommetrical  Idealist" — 
(oriental  salaam  from  Sukkar) — "  is  it  given  to  penetrate  those 
profound  intricacies  which  connect  nature,  spirit,  and  the  poet 
ical  faculty  in  elusive  but  indestructible  bonds,  only  to  be  de 
tected  and  expounded  by  rare  and  wonderful  organizations, 
whose  native  genius,  chastened  by  severest  toil,  enables  them 
to  trace  the  misty  paths  through  an  exceptional  appreciation  of 
their  obscure,  yet  heaven-born  adumbrations!" 

"That's  so!"  repeated  Mr.  Doke,  evidently  profoundly  im 
pressed. 

"De  organization  of  Homer!"  exclaimed  Professor  Sukkar, 
volcanically  ;  "  of  Goethe  of  Shakespeare,  and  of — Drierly!" 

"Oncore!"  cried  Blobb. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  003 

"  "What  the  deuce  do  they  mean  ?"  whispered  Gifford  to  his 
companion. 

'•  Deuce  take  me  if  I  know,  except  it  is  some  roundabout  in 
cense  to  theii  Magnus  Apollo,"  replied  Clinton. 

"What  was  them  men's  baits?"  asked  Gollop,  mistily,  of  his 
nearest  neighbor,  Blobb. 

"  Baits?" 

"  Yes.  How  could  you  ketch  'em  if  you  wanted  to?  Which 
was't  now  ?  Politics,  gals,  hosses,  or  buildin'  ?" 

"Ah,  you're  always  so  funny,  Mr.  Gollop !"  said  Blobb  doubt 
fully,  at  a  venture. 

••Funny  !"  echoed  Gollop,  relapsing  into  his  arm-chair.  "  That 
ain't  my  bait,  anyhow." 

<;  The  English,"  continued  Mr.  Drierly,  after  pausing,  clearing 
his  throat,  and  looking  fishily  into  space, — "the  English,  with 
that  narrow-minded  perversity  which  is  their  predominant  idio 
syncrasy,  have  denied  to  this  great  and  growing  land  that  mighty 
pre-eminence  in  everything  that  ever  Was,  or  Is.  or  Will  Be, 
which  is  our  birthright"  (groans),  "  and  in  the  particular  depart 
ment  of  intellectuo-poetic  discrimination — of  creative  spontaneity 
in  the  poetic  perceptions — of  what  may  be  termed  the  Pre-Ral- 
faelitic  faculty  of  interpreting  the  Real  and  the  Vital  of  Nature's 
handiwork  in  contradistinction  to  the  Artificial  and  the  Lifeless 
forms  of  the  schools, — they  have,  I  say,  in  this  wise  endeavored 
to  exalt  the  Thinkers  of  the  effete  and  cramp-souled  Old  World 
over  those  of  free-born  America  !" 

"Hi,  hi!"  began  Mr.  Doke,  but  was  instantly  checked  by 
Gifford,  who  was  happily  near  enough  to  intervene. 

"  Poshterity,"  cried  Professor  Sukkar,  "  vill  put  on  dose  Tink 
ers  de  seal  of  oblivion  I" 

"  Meanwhile,"  proceeded  the  Patriot  Sage,  "  our  friend,  Mr. 
Steelyard  of  Boston,  informs  me  that  a  society  has  been  thought 
of  in  that  great  centre  of  thought  for  the  exclusion  of  all  foreign 
intellectual  as  well  as  material  wares — for  the  protection  of  native 
brains  as  well  as  that  of  native  manufactures,  which,  although  it 
may  justly  be  thought  that  they  are  certain  to  distance  competi 
tion,  and  so  render  such  a  design  supererogatory,  may  yet  be 
deemed  a  fit  proposal  for  national  consideration." 

"Bravo!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Prodder,  waking  up  from  a  state  of 
coma.  "  Why  should  trade  be  protected  and  the  muses  go 
naked  ?  Why  should  our  odes  and  eclogues  be  bandied  in  cheap 
editions,  when,  by  keeping  all  others  from  the  market,  we  could 
force  the  people  to  read  them !" 


394  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"  Urn !"  doubted  Blobb,  "we  couldn't  do  without  the  news,  you 
know." 

"  News,  sir!"  said  Mr.  Drierly,  reprovingly,  "  we  would  make 
our  own  news,  and  quite  enough,  too,  for  a  free-born  people." 

"Misther  Bladderly  Flytte !"  announced  the  servitor  at  the 
door. 

"  Who  may  he  bef  asked  Hugh,  sotto  voce. 

"Why,"  said  Clinton,  in  the  same  tone,  "is  it  possible  you 
never  heard  of  Flytte  ?  He's  the  great  traveller,  you  know,  who 
goes  abroad,  learns  all  about  a  foreign  country  in  six  weeks,  and 
then  writes  a  comprehensive  book  about  it." 

"  Humph!  I  don't  like  his  face.  That  projecting  mouth  and 
the  rat-like  teeth  are  to  me  full  of  unpleasant  reminiscences." 

"But  you've  never  seen  him  before1?" 

"  Oh,  dear,  no !  I  was  thinking  of  some  one  else." 

"  What's  the  matter  with  Prodder  "?  See,  he's  turned  his  face 
to  the  wall." 

"  He  doesn't  write  travels,  does  he  1" 

"  Oh,  no  !  but  Flytte  writes  poems." 

The  new  arrival  \vas  marshalled  to  the  front  by  an  escort  of 
feminine  Drierlys,  alike  as  the  Antipholi,  to  do  homage  to  the 
Nestor  of  poesy,  philosophy,  and  the  arts. 

"I  have  just  parted,"  observed  Flytte,  affectedly,  having  paid 
his  compliments,  "  from  Mr.  Randolph  Burgee  of  Georgia." 

"Of  Georgia!"  repeated  the  patriarch,  frowning. 

"  Arid  Mr.  Walsingham  Scuttle  of  Alabama." 

"Of  Alabama!"  echoed  four  Drierlys,  with  simultaneous 
wrath. 

"Very  gentlemanly  men  they  are  ;  and  although,  to  be  sure, 
they  are  slaveholders " 

"  Slaveholders !  Oh,  oh,  oh !"  chorused  a  dozen  voices  in 
dismal  deprecation. 

"  Dey  ish  shentlemens  like  de  imps  of  der  tuyfel !"  exclaimed 
Professor  Sukkar,  furiously. 

"  They  certainly  did  no  original  sin  by  being  voluntarily  born 
such." 

"  Open  to  controversy  that — open  to  controversy,"  said  Blobb, 
senteriiously ;  "  been  refuted  in  the  Centurion  years  ago,  as 
Flytte  ought  to  know." 

"  What's  his  baits  f  inquired  Gollop,  thickly ;  he  had  been 
chewing  tobacco  on  the  sly,  and  spitting  softly  in  the  grate. 

"His  baits?" 

"  Yes,"  repeated  Gollop,  impatiently,  "his  weak  spots — his 
darlin'  vices.  What's  he  sweet  on  1  What  does  he  like  best  1" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  305 

"  Slaveholders,  I  reckon.  Beg  pardon,  Mr.  Gollop,  I  thought 
you  were  joking  again." 

"  Jokin'  be  d d!  I  didn't  get  half  the  shares  in  your 

paper  by  jokin',  but  by  findin'  out  folkses  baits." 

"Slavery,"  began  Mr.  Drierly,  in  a  very  high  key,  whereat  all 
the  adherents  cried,  "Hush!"  and  rubbed  their  hands  as  if  to 
say,  "Now  for  it!"  while  Professor  Sukkar  cried,  "  Ordersh," 
and  Dr.  Rosette  P.  Aloe  rapped  on  the  mantelpiece  with  her  fan. 
"Slavery,"  repeated  the  philosopher,  looking  over  Mr.  Flytte's 
head  as  though  he  were  talking  to  somebody  about  ten  feet  high 
immediately  behind  him,  ' '  is  the  sum  of  all  Yillanies  and  the 
aggravated  quintessence  of  each  and  every  hypothetical  Turpi 
tude  ;  and  the  toleration  extended  to  its  vile  practisers  is  a  pre 
mium  paid  to  vice.  We  are  the  Apostles  of  Freedom,  and  hold 
that  as  an  abomination  which,  while  it  profiteth  not  our  purses, 
drags  down  and  blackens  our  souls.  Not  by  gentleness  and 
long-suffering  will  we  entreat  the  children  of  sin  for  whom  the 
penalty  of  social  ostracism  becomes  a  religious  duty " 

"Oucore!"  shouted  Blobb,  enthusiastically. 

"  Beautiful,  ain't  it  ?"  cried  several  worshippers  in  chorus, 
while  Prodder,  delighted  with  the  reproof  administered  to  a 
brother  bard,  gazed  with  passionate  admiration  on  the  patriarch, 
and  melodiously  chanted : 

"  He  wears  the  white  flower  of  a  blameless  life  I" 

"  Wherefore,"  continued  the  Sinless  One,  "  let  us  have  nought 
to  do  with  Randolph  Burgee  ;  let  us  hold  ourselves  guiltless  of 
association  with  Walsingham  Scuttle.  Let  us  rather  hold  them 
up  to  the  scorn  and  hatred  of  mankind,  that  they  may  become 
the  Ishmaels  of  the  land,  and  that  the  Christian  world  may  not 
include  us  in  the  reprobation  which  attaches  to  then*  stupendous 
crime." 

"  Hurrah  !"     "  Hear,  hear !"     "  Dat  ish  goot !" 

"  Oncore  !"  arose  tumultuously  from  the  throng  of  disciples. 
'  Sir,"  quoth  Mr.    Flytte,  manfully,  and  forgetting  his  lisp, 
"  that  may  be  the  way  to  infuriate  the  Sinners,  but  I  cannot 
think  it  the  best  way  to  abolish  the  Sin." 

"  What  do  you  think  of  this  ?"  whispered  Clinton. 

"Think  !  That  he  is  a  selfish  old  hypocrite,"  answered  Hugh. 
"Heaven  knows  I  have  no  love  for  slavery;  but  this  cheap 
method  of  being  conspicuous  for  virtue — of  getting  credit  for 
mercy  to  the  slave,  at  the  small  expense  of  being  unmerciful  to 


396  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

the  master — must  surely  have  an  alloy  of  meanness,  of  bigotry, 
and  of  selfishness  in  it." 

"  Of  course  it  has.  It  is  this  narrow-minded  advocacy 
which  has  reflected  so  much  prejudice  on  a  noble  cause.  But 
good  taste  has  always  been  on  the  side  of  obstruction,  and  I  sup 
pose  will  ever  be." 

"  Niggers  is  niggers,"  muttered  Mr.  Doke,  not  relishing  the 
attack  on  a  class  always  in  alliance  with  his  party.  "Niggers  is 
niggers ;  and  blowin'  won't  make  'em  white.  What  do  you 
think  of  it,  Colonel  Gollop  ?" 

"Let  him  cackle,"  replied  Gollop,  cautiously,  and  quite  in 
sympathy  politically  with  his  questioner,  "  if  it  makes  him  feel 
good ;  for  it  won't  make  any  difference,  no  how,  and  blowin' 
and  bein'  king-pin  is  his  baits.  Interdoose  me  to  that  man — 
that  rich  man  who's  fetcht  his  pile  from  Californy.  I've  been 
tryin'  to  spot  him  more  'n  a  month  !" 

"  Only  to  peculiar  and  exceptional  organizations,"  continued 
Mr.  Drierly,  with  dignity,  "  is  it  given  to  penetrate  the  true  solu 
tions  of  complicated  social  phenomena.  In  such  cases  we  do  not 
argue,  we  know;  we  do  not  speculate,  we  divine;  and  thus,  armed 
with  a  knowledge  which  is  not  obnoxious  to  common  criticism,  we 
lay  down  immutable  formula  for  the  instruction  and  guidance  of 
Mankind !" 

With  these  luminous  words  the  patriarch,  bowing  loftily,  with 
drew.  It  was  his  custom  to  retire  at  a  comparatively  early  hour 
on  the  occasion  of  these  intellectual  symposia,  when  it  would  be 
intimated  that  he.  was  engaged  in  profound  study  in  his  library ; 
but  when,  if  traced  to  his  actual  retreat,  he  would  have  been 
found  comfortably  snoring  in  bed. 

Most  of  the  company  rose  as  he  departed,  while  Professor 
Sukkar  and  Dr.  Aloe,  supported  by  four  translucent  Drierlys, 
supported  him  to  the  door,  bowing  low,  in  speechless  homage, 
as  he  passed  its  portals.  A  hum  of  applause  attended  this  cer 
emony,  serving  as  a  sort  of  graceful  music  to  garnish  the  exit. 

"  Our  great  friend,"  said  the  physician,  shrilly,  as  the  door 
closed,  "is  in  force  to-night." 

"  He  ish,"  affirmed  the  professor,  conclusively,  "  de  light,  de 
beacons  of  de  world  !" 

"  Only  needing  to  be  a  little  more  cosmopolitan,"  said  Mr. 
Flytte,  gravely,  "  to  set  it  on  fire." 

The  professor  looked  at  him  suspiciously.  "  Sir,"  he  observed, 
at  length,  feeling  called  on,  in  a  general  way,  to  confute  some 
thing,  "vat  you  call  de  Plutonian  in  contradistinction  to  de 
Neptunian  theory " 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  307 

"  A  thousand  pardons!  But  I  see  my  friend  Mr.  Parapet 
moving  toward  the  door,  and  must  really  speak  with  him  before 
he  goes." 

One  of  the  Shadows  placed  herself  in  Clinton's  way.  "  Pray 
don't  go.  Mr.  Parapet.  Indeed  you  mustn't.  We  usually  play 
and  sing  some  after  Pa  goes.  And  see  how  much  dear  Mr. 
Giflbrd  is  in  request !  It  will  really  be  most  unkind  of  you  to 
tear  him  away  from  us  !"  * 

Dear  Mr.  Gilford  was  in  request  with  a  vengeance.  The 
company  had  made  a  slight,  but  very  perceptible  movement  to 
wards  him,  when  he  was  first  announced.  During  the  intelli 
gible  debate  which  had  succeeded,  the  company  had  oscillated 
impatiently  between  respect  for  philosophy  and  attraction  for 
lucre.  It  had  shuffled  its  feet  and  moved  its  chairs  uneasily . 
Once  or  twice  Mr.  Doke  had  arisen,  and  tried  to  glide  round 
unperceived  to  Hugh's  neighborhood ;  in  doing  which  he  knocked 
something  down,  and  was  looked  at  with  solemn  reproof  by  sev 
eral  ghostly  worshippers,  while  the  idol  himself  made  a  comma 
into  a  semicolon,  that  the  interruption  to  his  discourse  might 
appear  more  marked  and  reprehensible  ;  whereat,  Mr.  Gollop, 
who  was  burning  to  be  introduced  to  our  hero,  and  did  not  want 
Doke,  as  he  averred,  to  "play  no  advantages  gittin'  hold  of 
him  fust,"  seized  that  enterprising  gentleman  fiercely  by  the 
coat-tail  and  forced  him,  struggling,  back  into  his  chair.  But 
the  philosopher  once  gone,  all  hesitancy  in  the  repression  of  in 
clination  went  to6,  and  an  enthusiastic  gush  of  popular  appre 
ciation  rolled  upon  Gifford  in  a  flood,  the  more  overwhelming 
for  being  hitherto  confined. 

';Dear  Mr.  Gifford,  pray  allow  me  to  present  my  daughter. 
Julia,  love,  this  is  Mr.  Gifford  you've  heard  us  all  speak  so  much 
of."  "Excuse  me,  ma'am;  Mr.  Gifford,  Colonel  Gollop ;  you 
know  his  partner,  Mr.  Ingott.  Ha!  ha!  ha!  Guess  he  is  a 

rich  man.  What  he  don't  know,  ain't  worth -"  "Most 

happy,  I'm  sure.  Delighted,  dear  madam,  certainly."  "  How 
are  yer  ?  I  kin  help  yer  with  the  Sixth,  I  kin  ;  and  as  to  Gam- 
mony "  "  I'm  told,  dear  sir,  you  know  every  inch  of  Cali 
fornia;  and  as  my  dear  Robert  is  going  out  in  the  Electric 

Eel "  "  So  pleased  to  hear  you  liked  my  '  Union  Square  to 

Hyde  Park  Corner;'  and,  as  *  Belgravia  to  Fifth  Avenue' is 

coining  out  next  week ''  ';  Do  let  me  say  a  word  to  my 

dear  Mr.  Gifford.  Did  you  meet  the  Yon  Donks  in  Europe  ?" 
';  Well,  I  never!  On  Blobb's  authority?"  " No,  the  descrip 
tion  of  the  carriage  was  in  the  Optimist — same  column  with  Dan 
Prior,  the  nigger  minstrels,  and  Sloggins  the  gentlemanly 


398  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;     OR, 

butcher  of  Ninety-ninth  street."  "Show!"  "Fact"  "Mr. 
Gifford,  I  beg  your  pardon,  I'm  sure  ;  but  I  must  speak  with 
him.  The  pleasure  of  shaking  hands  with  you,  sir — honor — 
never  forget — "  "Made  fifty  thousand  in  Consolidated  Under 
ground."  "Is  that  so?"  "'  Tweren't,  'twas  Harlem  River!" 
"Anyhow,  he  made  it  in  a  week."  "I  must  interdoose  Mr. 
Gollop  and  Miss  Gollop."  "  You're  very  kind,  I'm  sure." 
"And  if  I  can't  put  ye  through,  me  and  Doke  here,  I'll  bust!" 
"  Don't,  please,  don't  push !"  "  I  can't  get  any  nearer !"  "  Mr. 
Gifford  ! — Dr.  Aloe  ! — Two  such  distinguished  people  ought  to 
know  each  other."  "You,  sir,  bein',  as  you  air,  the  architeck 
of  your  own  fortunes,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

The  adulation  Gifford  encountered  was  truly  sickening  enough, 
but — what  man  of  his  years  and  experience  would  ? — he  did  not 
attribute  it  entirely  to  his  wealth.  He  stood  and  breathed  a 
great  deal  of  the  intoxicating  incense ;  enough,  perhaps,  to  be 
wilder  and  confuse  a  clearer  head  and  a  maturer  judgment  than 
his  own ;  and  then,  feeling  a  sudden  sense  of  shame,  he  turned 
to  extricate  himself  and  to  find  his  friend.  Clinton  had  con 
trived  to  spirit  his  blue-eyed  charmer  into  some  quiet  nook  or 
another,  where  he  was  flirting  desperately,  and  oblivious  of 
everything  on  earth  but  Flora  Dimity.  As  Hugh,  with  great 
difficulty,  struggled  through  and  out  of  the  legion  of  his  adorers, 
he  met  the  eyes  of  Marian  fixed  earnestly  upon  him.  Her  face 
wore  a  smile  ;  but  he  thought,  and  thought  truly,  that,  except 
ing  one,  it  was  the  saddest  smile  he  had  ever  teen  there. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

IT  is  a  sad  consolation  when  we  have,  with  such  shifts  as  we 
may,  provided  against  any  dire  calamity,  to  have  the  sound 
ness  of  our  judgment  attested  by  the  event.  When  Marian 
had  stipulated  for  that  year's  delay  which  was  to  gauge  the 
steadiness  of  GiffoixVs  love,  as  well  as  to  serve  in  a  measure  as 
an  atonement  for  what  she  thought  not  altogether  right  in  his 
treatment  of  Virginia  Chester,  she  had  attached  far  less  siguifi- 
cancy  to  the  first  object  than  to  the  second.  There  seemed  to 
be  no  special  reason  why  a  love  which  had  outlived  a  year  of 
separation  should  droop  during  a  year  of  frequent  intercourse 
and  promised  fruition.  And  Marian,  although  far  more  free  of 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  309 

vanity  than  most  of  her  sex,  could  not  be  entirely  unconscious 
of  her  own  exceeding  loveliness,  or  of  the  strong  fascination 
she  exercised  without  effort  upon  those  around  her. 

But  as  the  fatal,  never-pausing  time  rolled  on,  she  began  to 
believe  that  the  prudence  of  her  stipulation  was  wretchedly  ver 
ified.  She  saw  Hugh  often,  and,  when  with  her,  no  woman, 
however  exacting,  need  have  been  dissatisfied  with  his  tender 
ness,  his  attention,  his  marked  acknowledgment  of  the  cherished 
spell  which  bound  him.  But  all  that  she  heard  in  his  absence 
seemed  to  Marian  full  of  gloom  and  foreboding. 

Report  said,  with  a  malignant  persistency  which  enforced  con 
viction,  that  Gifford  was  becoming  dissipated.  His  household, 
which  had  been  noted  for  order,  regularity,  and  unusual  decorum 
for  that  of  a  bachelor,  was  now  declared  to  be  the  scene  of  nightly 
revels,  and  of  reckless  extravagance.  Clinton  Parapet,  who  was 
belying  the  promise  of  a  well-spent  youth  in  a  most  unexpected 
manner,  was  Hugh's  constant  companion,  and  the  pair  vied  with 
each  other,  it  was  said,  in  wildness  and  excess.  The  fact  was, 
report  exaggerated  infamously,  the  truth  being  substatially  that 
one  young  man  was  endeavoring  to  escape  from  ennui  and  the 
disgust  which  sprung  from  his  political  researches  and  experi 
ence,  while  the  other  was  trying  to  forget  Flora  Dimity.  But 
worse  than  this  was  busily  hinted,  and  Marian  heard  the  worst. 

Mr.  Riviugstone  too,  standing  as  he  did  in  the  place  of  a  father, 
and  having  a  strong  title  to  her  respect  and  affection,  from 
having,  with  untiring  skill  and  industry,  pursued  an  investigation 
of  the  last  importance  to  Marian's  position  and  future  welfare,  felt 
it  his  duty  to  lay  before  her  such  truths  as  he  thought  she  might 
fairly  weigh,  prior  to  committing  her  happiness  irrevocably  to 
the  keeping  of  Hugh  Gifford. 

The  investigation,  so  momentous  and  so  difficult,  was  also  of  a 
most  delicate  description.  It  involved  nothing  less  than  the  tact 
whether,  legally  speaking,  Marian  was  a  free  woman  or  a  slave. 
Before  Mr.  Rivingstone  had  undertaken  it,  she  would  actually 
have  been  liable  to  be  arrested  and  sent  to  the  South,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  But  Rivingstone,  who 
had  acted  as  her  dead  father's  legal  adviser,  had  drawn,  under 
his  instructions,  papers  of  manumission  for  Marian's  mother,  which 
took  effect  prior  to  her  infant's  birth  :  that  these  papers  were  ex 
ecuted  as  well  as  prepared,  the  lawyer  could  swear ;  the  question 
was  as  to  their  whereabouts  or  present  existence. 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  estate  had  gone  to  the  legal  heirs  ;  but 
a  large  accumulation  of  money,  which  Rivingstone  knew  his 
friend  to  have  saved  as  the  surplus  of  a  heavy  income,  was  no- 


400  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

where  to  be  found,  although  he  was  equally  certain  Mr.  Rooke 
had  intended  it  for  Marian.  It  was  in  connection  with  these  im 
portant  subjects  that  she  had  been  summoned  from  California  ; 
in  the  same  connection  that  Rivingstone  had  gone  to  the  South 
a  short  time  after  ;  and  in  the  same  connection  that  the  party 
had  subsequently  sailed  for  Europe. 

The  lawyer's  efforts  then  pointed  to  the  momentous  objects  of 
metamorphosing  his  ward  from  a  poor  runaway  slave  to  a  wealthy 
and  free  woman.  In  the  respect  of  securing  her  liberty  dejure  as 
well  as  de  facto,  he  had  already  substantially  succeeded.  The 
less  important,  but  highly  desirable,  pecuniary  consummation, 
was  not  yet  achieved,  although  it  was  nearer  than,  with  profes 
sional  prudence,  he  thought  it  wise  to  declare. 

His  services  and  his  sincere  regard  for  the  child  of  an  old  and 
much  attached  friend  were  warmly  estimated  by  Marian  ;  and  it 
scarcely  needed  personal  qualities  of  a  nature  at  once  dignified 
and  lovable  to  make  her  regard  him  with  almost  filial  considera 
tion.  When,  therefore,  with  no  little  hesitancy  and  compunc 
tion,  he  spoke  on  the  subject  of  Gifford's  course  of  life,  she  was 
prepared  to  listen  with  deference  and  attention. 

"  He  is  without  doubt  a  brilliant  young  man,"  said  the  lawyer, 
"and  could  achieve  anything  with  steadiness  and  perseverance. 
But  he  has  a  fastidious  taste,  which  makes  him  keenly  sensitive 
to  the  repulsive  features  of  any  particular  pursuit  or  vocation, 
and  which  blinds  him  to  the  redeeming  ones.  Yet  he  has  for 
tune,  and  tells  me  he  was  born  poor,  without  explaining  the 
change.  You  have  known  him  longer.  Should  you  think  stead 
fastness — persistency  in  a  given  object — were  strong  character 
istics  of  his  ?" 

"No,"  said  truthful  Marian,  sadly;  "  I  should  fear,  on  the  con 
trary,  that  they  were  not." 

"He  spoke  of  entering  political  life,"  continued  Mr.  Riving 
stone,  "of  a  desire  to  serve  his  country.  But  the  months  have 
rolled  by,  and  he  seems  to  have  attempted  nothing  in  such  a  di 
rection.  His  pursuits  are  said  to  be  of  the  most  frivolous  char 
acter.  This,  of  course,  he  might  easily  outlive.  But  worse  is 
said  :  rumor  is  swift  to  magnify  such  things  ;  yet,  when  testi 
mony  appears  quite  universal  and  concurrent  as  to  a  man's  habits, 
it  is  unfortunately  apt  to  be  well  founded  in  fact." 

"  I  know  it." 

"Believe  me,  I  should  be  slow  in  attempting  to  sway  your 
judgment — at  least,  on  such  a  subject.  Nor  would  I  counsel  you 
to  believe  one-half  of  what  you  hear.  But  it  is  right  you  should 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  401 

be  upon  your  guard  ;  and  my  duty,  under  all  the  circumstances, 
would  be  but  imperfectly  performed,  did  I  not  put  you  so." 

;;He  is,  as  you  say,  very  fastidious,"  said  Marian,  slowly,  as  if 
seeking  something  to  say  in  extenuation.  "  A  strange  mixture 
of  caution  and  impetuosity.  I  don't  think  bad  habits  would  mas 
ter  him.  He  is  too  proud  for  that.  But  they  might  go  far 
enough  to  make  those  who  loved  him  miserable." 

'  'Ay,"  said  Riviugstone,  mournfully,  "  there  are  many  who 
keep  a  fair  front  to  the  world,  too  selfish  to  risk  its  penalties,  too 
cowardly  to  face  its  frowns,  who  yet  indulge  vile  passions  in  se 
cret  to  that  degree  as  to  make  a  hell  of  then'  firesides." 

"  He  would  never  do  that !"  exclaimed  Marian,  quickly. 
"  Hugh  is  not  selfish — not  at  least  in  great  things,  and  he  is  any 
thing "  and  her  thoughts  wandered  back  to  the  past.  ' ;  Oh ! 

anything  but  cowardly.     But " 

"Nay,  I  was  not  describing  him,  but  what  others  have  be 
come.  Let  us  trust  that  report  is  exaggerated,  and  that  all  may 
yet  be  well.  My  duty  is  done  in  uttering  a  warning,  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  not  misconstrue  its  motives." 

"  Indeed,  dear  sir,  I  will  not." 

"  For  I  shall  only  strive  to  do  what  your  dear  father,  had  he 
lived,  would  have  done  ;  and  my  mistakes  will  be  only  those  of 
prudence  or  over-jealous  care  of  what  I  regard  as  a  sacred 
trust." 

"  And  you  shall  have,"  cried  Marian,  with  one  of  her  old  out 
bursts,  which  were  rarer  now,  "no  less  than  a  daughter's  afiec- 
tion  and  obedience." 

There  were  many  conferences  like  this.  Hints  and  sugges 
tions,  rather  than  direct  statements  on  his  part ;  partial  defences 
and  acknowledgments  on  hers.  There  were  occasions  when 
Rivingstone  heard  what  he  knew  would  have  given  his  ward 
great  pain  to  hear ;  and  he  suppressed  such  things  as  honorable 
men  will,  giving  the  accused  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  where  great 
room  existed  for  misconstruction.  To  his  eyes  and  to  those  of 
the  world,  so  far  as  it  took  the  pains  to  form  an  opinion  on  the 
subject,  Gifford  was  simply  going  by  a  very  much  frequented 
and  commonplace  road  to  destruction.  To  his  conscience  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  keep  so  noble  a  girl  as  Marian  Rooke 
from  becoming  the  young  man's  travelling  companion. 

But  MarianRooke  herself  saw  deeper  than  this.  She  saw  that 
Gifford  was  scarcely  more  in  his  right  groove,  in  his  proper  niche, 
when  scattering  unearned  wealth  among  aimless  companions  in 
the  gold-worshipping  city,  than  he  was  while  delving  as  a  labor 
er  at  Armstrong's  Bar.  There  were  more  people  of  culture  and 


402  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

of  leisure  about  him,  but  there  were  no  more  people  of  higher  aims. 
The  men  with  whom  he  had  unhappily  been  brought  in  contact 
in  this  Babylon  had  poisoned  the  very  springs  of  his  ambition, 
by  showing  how  miserably  poor  and  worthless  was  all  that  he 
once  prized  and  could  now  strive  for.  Truly  he  should  have 
more  strength  of  mind  than  to  be  led  thus  tenderly  to  see  only 
one  side  of  the  picture.  But  it  was  the  office  of  true  love — 
clear-sighted,  womanly,  wifely  love — to  make  him  see  the  other ; 
and  then,  ah !  how  much  with  such  aid  and  encouragement  he 
had  the  powers  to  achieve  ! 

With  such  thoughts  and  convictions  as  these,  Marian  might 
have  gone  on  despite  truth,  or  despite  calumny,  firm  in  purpose,  to 
fulfil  her  share  of  the  bargain — if  he  asked  it — at  the  close  of  the 
year.  But  there  was  something  else  to  traverse  the  thoughts  and 
to  shake,  if  not  to  reverse,  the  convictions. 

Hers  was  not  a  nature  to  harbor  jealousy.  That  ignoble  pas 
sion  was,  of  all  others,  the  one  most  foreign  to  Marian's  character. 
When  whispers  reached  her  ears  of  attentions  pointedly  offered 
by  Gifford  to  Edith  Parapet — attentions  graciously  received — • 
she  gave  them  little  heed.  She  was  not  so  ignorant  of  the  pre 
tentious  of  that  proud  family,  as  not  to  know  that,  for  all  Hugh's 
advantages,  they  would  look  for  greater  and  higher  ones  in  a 
suitor  whose  alliance  they  would  be  disposed  to  favor  ;  nor  could 
she  believe  that  her  betrothed  could  wittingly  be  guilty  of  any 
act  of  treachery  toward  herself.  Still,  there  was  more  to  lend 
color  to  the  rumor  in  the  manner  of  the  parties  inculpated  when 
together,  and  yet  in  the  eye  of  the  world,  than  could  be  quite 
agreeable  to  an  affianced  woman ;  and  Hugh's  frequent  visits  to 
the  Parapet  mansion,  and  his  all  but  inseparable  intimacy  with 
its  heir,  added  strength  to  the  current  reports. 

When  the  repetition  of  these  stories  began  to  be  irksome  to 
her,  Marian,  instead  of  inviting  an  explanation  from  Hugh — she 
was  too  proud  for  that — sought  refuge  from  the  gossip  of  the 
world  in  the  country  houst  of  Mr.  Rivingstone,  situated  some 
dozen  miles  up  the  North  River.  Here  dwelt  her  guardian's 
sister,  and  here  Marian  was  always  secure  of  quiet  and  an  affec 
tionate  welcome.  After  midwinter  she  spent  most  of  her  time 
there,  rarely  coming  to  the  metropolis ;  and  Gifford,  after  being 
frequently  disappointed  when  he  sought  her  at  the  town  house, 
took  umbrage,  and  absented  himself  for  some  weeks.  Estrange 
ment  seemed  to  be  growing  up  between  them,  yet  still  it  need 
only  be  temporary  and  trilling.  A  few  words  of  frank  expla 
nation,  of  affectionate  acknowledgment,  of  regret  for  past  errors, 
of  fresh  promises  for  the  future,  would  have  been  quite  enough, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTCXE.  403 

so  far  as  the  gentle  girl  was  concerned,  to  set  GifFord's  suit  all 
right  again 

One  cold  miserable  day  in  early  March,  Marian  carne  to  town 
to  do  some  necessary  shopping,  and  the  modest  brougham  of 
Mr.  Riviugstone  awaited  her  without ;  she  had  just  entered  the 
famous  "  store"  of  Mr.  Dimity,  when  she  was  encountered  by 
one  of  the  Drierly  Shades.  There  was  an  expression  of  cada 
verous  joy  on  the  countenance  of  this  lady,  which,  to  those  who 
knew  her  best,  portended  the  dissemination  of  something  sad, 
or  painful,  or  scandalous  ;  and  even  Marian,  who  knew  her  but 
slightly,  would  fain  have  passed  with  a  courteous  recognition, 
but  the  Shadow  would  not  have  it  so.  She  knew  that  Marian 
had  been  from  town,  and  that,  therefore,  what  she  had  to  inflict 
might  have  the  exquisite  zest  of  a  fresh  and  unexpected  wound. 
Furthermore,  there  had  been  some  slight  political  coolness  be 
tween  Mr.  Rivingstone  and  Mr.  Drierly  of  late  ;  and  the  female 
Drierly  always  treated  such  matters  with  the  bitterest  personal 
animosity.  Lastly,  she  had  a  vague  notion  of  the  engagement 
of  Gifford  and  Marian, — vague,  because  neither  had  thought  it 
necessary  to  publish  the  fact  to  the  world,  and  what  she  had  to 
say  would  at  once  gratify  her  curiosity,  while  it  inflicted  a  pang 
on  the  near  friend  ot  one  who  had  dared  to  differ  with  a 
Drierly. 

k>Dear  Miss  Rooke,"  she  ejaculated,  with  that  cordiality  of 
manner  the  family  kept  largely  in  stock  for  people  who  rode  in 
broughams.  '•  Such  a  pleasure  to  see  you.  I  know  you've  been 
out  of  town.  The  country  must  be  very  dreary  at  this  season. 
But,  of  course,  you  have  your  reasons." 

**  Reasons  of  convenience  and  friendship  only,"  replied  Marian, 
smiling  ;  "and  I  go  but  a  short  distance,  not  much  further  than 
a  Broadway  omnibus  will  carry  one." 

"Oh,  indeed  !  Then,  of  course,  you  can  go  to  the  opera,  or 
to  parties  of  an  evening,  and  all  that '?" 

'•  Xot  quite  so  readily  as  while  staying  in  town ;  still  I  can  do  so 
for  a  particular  occasion." 

"  That's  so  nice,  now.  If  you  only  would  come  to  our  conver 
sazione  next  Tuesday.  Count  Poppo,  who  married  our  sweet 
poetess,  you  know.  Maud  Squelch,  is  going  to  read  a  paper  on 
the  mediaeval  rennaissance  of  Abyssinian  art.  What  a  love  of  a  pop 
lin  that  is  1  And  Mr.  Clinton  Parapet  is  coming,  and  Mr.  Gifford ; 
of  course  you've  heard,  by-the-by  ?" 

"  Heard  what  ?" 
Oh,  about  the  engagement !" 


"Whose  engagement^' 


404  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"Why,  all  the  world  is  talking  about  it.  Surmise  is  turned 
into  certainty.  The  winter  has  been  lively  with  suspicions,  and 
the  spring  blossoms  with  facts.  Mr.  Gifford  is  to  marry  Edith 
Parapet  I" 

Marian  made  no  reply,  but  she  turned  very  pale,  and  the 
Shadow  saw  her  arrow  had  gone  home. 

"Unless,"  pursued  the  relentless  Apparition,  "all  signs  and 
omens  are  to  be  translated  backwards,  the  happy  event  will  not 
be  long  postponed." 

"  What  signs  ?  What  omens  ?"  asked  Marian,  steadily, 
though  her  tall  figure  shook  for  a  moment,  and  she  moved  as 
if  to  get  near  a  chair. 

"Together  always  at  the  opera — tete-a-tete  in  the  saddle  or 
when  driving  in  the  Park — the  happy  man  domesticated  at  the 
family  mansion — Miss  Parapet  coloring  whenever  his  name  is 
mentioned — Miss  Parapet's  eyes  folio  wing  him  wherever  he  moves 
in  society — Mr.  Gifford  buying  a  lovely  set,  opals  and  diamonds, 
at  Bullet  and  Green's — and  being  caught  in  the  act  by  Wirt 
Pinckney — and  she  wearing  them  the  night  after  at  the  academy 
— etc.,  etc.  ;  and  what  would  you  have  more  T ' 

"  What,  indeed  ?"  said  Marian,  more  faintly,  but  sinking 
quietly  into  a  seat. 

"  So  I  may  put  you  down  as  certain,  may  Inot,  dear  Miss  Rooke  ? 
And  we  shall  have  the  great  pleasure  to  see  you  on  Tuesday  ?" 

"  Perhaps — thanks — yes,"  replied  Marian,  mechanically,  as  the 
Shade  glided  triumphantly  away. 

The  rumor  was  gaining  strength — vitality  ;  was  becoming  com 
promising  to  a  degree  that  threatened  the  worst — its  verification. 
Alas,  for  the  days  when  both  Hugh  arid  Marian  believed  them 
selves  penniless,  with  the  world  all  before  them,  and  nothing  but 
hope  to  cheer  them  on  !  Alas,  for  the  dear  old  days  at  Arm 
strong's  Bar,  where  nought  but  the  knowledge  of  mutual  love 
had  been  wanting  to  make  an  earthly  paradise  !  From  this  mo 
ment  Marian  began  to  realize  a  terrible  truth — the  truth  that  Gif 
ford' s  wealth  was  somehow  a  barrier  to  their  love  stronger  than 
the  poverty  had  been  wh'ich  parted  him  from  Virginia  Chester. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  405 


CHAPTER  XVHL 

me  a  reward  • "   cried  Clinton  Parapet,  as  he  bounded 
into  Gifford's  breakfast-room  one  bright  morning  in  spring. 

"For  what?" 

"  For  the  most  praiseworthy  thing  in  life,  inventing  you  a  new 
pleasure  !  Here  we  are,  bored  and  hipped  to  our  heart's  discon 
tent  ;  having  done  operas,  theatres,  balls,  parties,  artists'  recep 
tions,  wedding  breakfasts,  racing  on  the  Bloomingdale  Road,  bet 
ting  on  the  Centreville  Track,  showing  our  paces  in  his  park  of 
parks,  even  indulging — for  your  blessed  delectation,  not  mine,  re 
member — in  several  political  meetings;  what  is  there  left  for  us  but 
gentlemanly  suicide,  going  abroad,  or,  dernier  ressort,  the  inven 
tion  of  a  new  pleasure  ?" 

"  But  you  see,"  said  Hugh,  looking  rather  jaded  and  woebe 
gone  for  a  handsome  young  man  of  fortune  with,  uncommonly 
fine  prospects,  "  but  you  see,  after  all,  I  have  the  advantage  of 
you.  At  the  moment,  I  grant,  we  appear  to  be  in  the  same  cat 
egory  ;  we've  struggled  through  the  season,  doing  no  good  for 
ourselves  or  for  any  one  else  ;  we've  sown  our  seed  of  sight-see 
ing,  idling,  pleasure-seeking,  call  it  what  you  will,  and  have 
reaped  a  plentiful  crop  of  satiety.  Good.  But  now  comes  the 
per  contra.  You  have  nothing  before  you  but  to  go  through  the 
same  agricultural  process  over  again,  while  I  have  a  project  to 
carry  out,  involving  not  only  honorable  occupation,  but  profit  and 
service  to  the  common  weal !" 

"Ah,  your  Congressional  scheme!  I  give  you  a  twelve 
month  to  weary  of  "that.  You'll  find  a  year  of  the  sweet  soci 
ety  of  tinker,  tailor,  weaver,  and  bellows-maker,  quite  sufficient, 
believe  me.  The  batch  sent  on  last  fall,  after  you  arrived,  in 
deed,  will  make  a  more  charming  Zoological  Garden  than  ever." 

"  I've  laid  my  plans,  and  must  cany  them  out.  You  see 
Clyde,  and  Ingott,  and  Doke  are  all  interested  in  my  success — 
have  all  promised  or  sold  their  aid,  and  must  not  be  disappoint 
ed.  If  I  make  a  blunder,  to  me  the  penalty.  But  take  a  seat, 
a  cigar,  and  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  unfold  the  new  pleasure." 

'•  Briefly,  then,"  said  Clinton,  accepting  all  three  offers,  "  un 
like  our  previous  mundane  joys,  it  contains  nothing  of  the  earth, 
earthy.  It  is  to  be  enjoyed  in  a  more  pellucid  element." 


406  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR. 

"In  the  air,  I  suppose? — Chateaux  en  Espagne  or  balloons?" 

u  Neither,  good  GEdipus.  What  say  you  to  the  sea?  The 
open,  bounding,  tumbling,  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  sea  ?*' 

"  Not  going  abroad  again  ?" 

"  Stupid  !  How  can  I  leave  my  adorable,  my  blue-eyed  maid 
— my  inestimable  Flora,  just  as  the  season  comes  when  she 
strews  the  earth  with  flowers  ?" 

"Perpend,  then." 

"  Know  that  I  am  member  of  one  society  whose  association 
involves  neither  the  aid  of  Pokes  nor  Ingotts ;  which  craves 
the  countenance  of  neither  Optimist  nor  Pessimist;  which  exists 
without  the  hand  of  the  City  Government  to  sustain,  or  the 
dirty  fingers  of  Milesian  politicians  to  pilfer  ;  a  society  to  which 
Neptune  is  the  only  god,  and  the  voice  of  the  sovereign  people 
is  as  nothing." 

"  And  which  is  called " 

"  The  Yacht  Club,  potent  statesman  ;  which  creates  and  per 
fects  most  delicate,  beautiful,  and  swift-winged  engines,  for  fly 
ing  far  away  from  the  pomps  and  vanities,  the  unclean  streets 
and  the  unwashed  population,  the  unseemly  sights  and  the  pol 
luting  smells  of  this  worshipful  city,  all  of  which  flourish  most 
consumedly  at  the  approach  of  the  dog  days  ;  engines  whereof 
the  most  delicate,  the  most  beautiful,  and  the  most  swift- winged 
is  now  the  heir-loom  of  the  Parapets." 

' '  Bravo !  And  you  propose  to  take  wing  thereby  and  fly 
away  ?" 

"  Even  so.  Yet  not  prematurely.  It  is  as  yet  too  early  in 
the  season  for  a  lengthy  cruise,  and  our  Regatta — yearly  test  of 
speed  for  the  various  craft — comes  not  until  much  later.  But 
you  must  know  that  the  Ariadne — such  is  the  name  of  our 
beauty — has  rivals ;  prominent  among  which  is  one  built  only 
last  summer  by  Wirt  Pinckney.  His  charmer,  the  Sylphide, 
was  the  winner  last  season  when  we  were  in  Europe.  Boast 
ful  with  this  success,  he  challenges  me  for  a  preliminary  contest, 
to  take  place  soon  after  the  first  of  May,  and  I  have  taken  up 
his  gage." 

"  And  how  do  the  boats  compare  as  to  size  ?" 

"  As  like  as  two  peas.  Indeed,  Pinckney's  was  modelled  di 
rectly  from  mine — a  base  imitation !  Yet  still  there  are  one  or 
two  super-refined  points  whereupon  our  skipper  believes  the 
Ariadne  still  may  keep  her  advantage.  We're  each  about  a 
hundred  and  fifty  as  to  tonnage,  and  show  canvas  enough  for 
two  hundred.  By-and-by,  if  you  have  leisure,  I  will  show 
you  some  of  the  best  shooting  in  the  world,  beyond  the  Capes 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  407 

of  Delaware.  Meanwhile,  with  plenty  of  decent  wine,  provis 
ions,  and  havanas  to  match,  and  a  picked  company,  we'll  have 
our  race,  and  clear  out  the  winter's  cobwebs  with  an  early  taste 
of  old  ocean's  champagne  I  What  say  you?" 

"  Oh,  count  on  me,  of  course,  and  many  thanks.  That  is  to 
say,  up  to  the  first  of  June ;  afterwards,  I  believe,  I  belong  to 
my  country." 

"  Unhappy  man  !  For  about  a  month  then  you  are  free,  and 
ait  er  wards " 

••  Afterwards,  stump  speaking,  letter  writing,  vote  concilia 
ting  ;  in  a  word,  capital-making,  until  the  period  of  the  great 
struggle  in  the  autumn." 

"  Appalling  prospect!  And  at  best,  how  lame  and  impotent 
the  conclusion !  However,  it's  no  affair  of  mine,  except  as 
having  a  certain  moderate  lien  on  your  society.  Mind,  you'll 
never  find  grace  again  in  Edith's  eyes  when  once  you  don  the 
scurvy  harness." 

"I  shall  resort  to  unheard-of  devices  to  make  my  peace. 
Besides,  after  all,  I  may  fail." 

"Not  when  Doke  is  interested  in  the  result,  believe  me. 
Only  you  must  not  scrutinize  his  doings  too  closely.  Ask  no 
questions,  and  get  no  lies,  will  be  his  motto  at  election  time." 

"  Still,  the  fight  will  be  a  sharp  one;  and,  if  defeated,  pity 
may  perhaps  overcome  the  horror  inspired  by  my  crime." 

Like  many  brothers,  Clinton  was  blind  to  what  scarcely  any 
one  else  so  close  to  the  parties  would  have  failed  to  suspect — 
his  sister's  partiality  for  Hugh  Gifford.  He  liked  him  person 
ally,  and  was  gratified  that  the  family  had  extended  him,  upon 
the  indorsement  of  his  introduction,  rather  unusual  attentions. 
Bnt,  in  addition  to  a  general  persuasion  that  no  female  Parapet, 
at  least,  could  many  any  one  without  a  name,  there  was  the 
common  fraternal  obtusity  to  aid  in  keeping  him  in  the  dark. 
Besides,  he  had  heard  of  Hugh's  engagement  to  Marian,  which, 
although  it  had  been  little  discussed  between  them,  or  much 
thought  of  by  Clinton  at  all,  would  have  directly  suggested 
itself  to  his  mind,  had  the  possibility  of  any  tender  relation  be 
tween  Edith  and  Gifford  once  entered  there. 

"  Edith  shall  be  of  our  party,"  said  Clinton,  "  and  you  can 
have  the  way  for  your  peace  in  advance." 

"Agreed.  I  suppose  some  one  else,"  added  Hugh  signifi 
cantly,  "will  be  of  the  party  as  well  ?" 

"It  will  require  management,"  replied  Clinton,  puffing  blue 
rings  speculatively  into  space,  "  but  with  adroitness  it  may  be  ac 
complished.  Wirt,  of  course,  will  have  lots  of  people,  and  so 


408  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

shall  we.     We  start  from  the  same  place  at  Hoboken,  so  that 
nothing  more  easy  than  a  trifling  mistake  or  two." 

"  I  see.  Only  I  think  you're  really  playing  a  rather  dangerous 
gam  o.  To  amuse  oneself  is  one  thing,  but  to  run  a  very  great 
risk " 

"My  dearfellow,  one  must  have  excitement,  and  where  is 
there  excitement  when  a  man  grows  blase,  save  it  includes  some 
spice  of  danger  ?" 

"  But  if  the  danger  threatens  a  fatal  catastrophe  ?" 

"  Nonsense!  We  play  with  pyrotechnics,  not  bomb-shells. 
Besides,  after  all,  grave  Mentor,  what  do  you  know  about 
war  1" 

Gifford  knew  more  about  it,  in  his  sense,  than  the  excitement- 
loving  Mr.  Parapet  supposed ;  but  judiciously  held  his  peace, 
content  in  his  office  of  discreet  adviser,  with  Clinton's  assurances 
that  nothing  in  the  nature  of  grave  hostilities  was  included  in 
his  prospective  plans. 

Both  Marian  and  Edith  had  played  during  the  winter  a  game 
in  which  womanly  pride  had  more  to  do  than  purposed  dissimu 
lation.  I  do  not  mean  to  compare  their  characters.  They  were 
as  unlike,  in  most  respects,  as  two  women  well  could  be  ;  but 
they  shared  in  common  this  one  particular  resolution,  that  Gif 
ford  should  not  see,  whatever  his  motives  may  have  been,  that 
his  behavior  had  caused  them  any  jealous  pain  as  regards  the 
other. 

Edith  felt,  after  hearing  of  his  engagement,  that  she  had  per 
mitted  herself  to  become  far  more  interested  in  Gifford  than  his 
conduct  had  justified,  even  if  she  had  ever  seriously  contempla 
ted  relations  to  which,  in  truth,  she  had  not  given  a  thought. 
Still  she  did  not  quite  estimate  arightly  the  strength  of  that  in 
terest  ;  and  when  she  coolly  laid  down  for  herself  the  task  of 
continuing  to  meet  Hugh,  and  to  conduct  their  intercourse  pre 
cisely  as  if  she  had  never  felt  toward  him  except  as  a  friend,  and 
that  in  a  manner  implying  all  their  previous  intercourse  had  been 
exactly  of  the  same  nature,  and  no  other,  she  committed  a  seri 
ous  error. 

I  hope  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  Gifford  was  not  a  coxcomb. 
It  was  not  needful  that  he  should  be  one  in  order  to  be  pleased 
with  the  obvious  liking  of  a  lovely,  fashionable,  and  greatly 
admired  young  lady  who  had  chosen  to  distinguish  him  from 
among  a  crowd  of  attending  admirers,  any  of  whom  would  have 
become  for  a  look  her  willing  slave.  He  thought  she  must  know 
of  his  engagement,  but  that  that  knowledge  did  not  prevent  her 
indeed,  why  should  it  ? — from  regarding  him  as  a  friend. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  409 

True,  the  subject,  strangely  enough,  was  never  mentioned  be 
tween  them ;  but  this  fact,  if  it  presented  itself,  was  quickly 
dismissed  from  his  mind.  He  was.  in  a  manner,  intoxicated  by 
the  unaccustomed  glitter,  adulation,  and  luxury  of  his  position, 
and  his  judgment  was,  for  the  time,  stultified  and  disarmed. 

It  suited  Edith,  in  spite  of  a  real  pain  at  heart,  which  might 
have  taught  her  such  a  course  was  neither  right  nor  politic,  to 
have  Gilford  in  attendance  upon  her  at  the  opera,  in  the  park, 
and  at  balls  as  much  as»ever.  Her  wishes  conveyed  in  a  hun 
dred  nameless  ways  received  implicit  obedience,  and  Hugh,  with 
out  the  least  idea  of  doing  an  injustice  to  the  noble  girl  he  had 
asked  to  be  his  wife,  wasl  ulledintoan  impression  by  her  silence — 
and  if  she  were  content,  who  had  a  right  to  object  ? — that  every 
thing  in  his  conduct  was  confessedly,  or  tacitly,  what  it  should 
be. 

Thus  matters  ran  on  in  the  same  groove,  in  the  same  routine, 
throughout  the  winter.  Hugh  attended  Marian  in  society  on 
one  occasion,  and  Edith  on  another ;  escorted  hisjiancce  to  a 
ball  to-night,  drove  in  the  park  with  Miss  Parapet  to-morrow. 
Of  course  remarks  came  at  length  in  proper  order  ;  first  of  sur 
prise,  then  irony,  and,  finally,  condemnation.  But  Marian, 
although  not  altogether  the  Marian  to  Hugh  she  had  been,  while 
he,  poor  dazed  fool,  was  all  unconscious  of  the  priceless  treasure 
he  was  idly  jeopardizing,  was  yet  kind  and  patient,  and  tried 
now  and  then  to  rouse  him  from  the  ominous  intellectual  and 
moral  lethargy  into  which  he  was  sinking.  This,  after  a  season, 
she  began  to  fear  was  hopeless ;  and,  fatal  change!  although  she 
loved  him  still,  Hugh  began  to  lose  her  respect.  His  percep 
tions  were  not  filmed  to  this  as  to  some  other  things,  and  his 
dislike  of  the  delay  she  had  stipulated  for  reinforced  his  annoy 
ance  at  finding  himself  sinking  in  her  esteem.  Then  came  peri 
ods  of  coolness,  distance,  almost  alienation,  interrupted  by  bursts 
of  passionate  fondness,  for  he  loved  her  very,  very  dearly ;  but 
the  chasm  between  them  had  opened,  the  delicate  feather  of  the 
wedge  had  entered,  and  these  are  things  which  neither  narrow 
nor  go  backward. 

Alas,  for  the  wretched,  wretched  gold  that  was  working  so 
much  misery  I  Alas,  for  the  boon  that  poor  Ike,  in  his  simple 
gratitude,  had  striven  so  hard  to  bestow,  thinking,  poor  innocent 
as  he  was,  that  the  philosopher,  Hugh  Gilford,  well  knew  what 
would  buy  him  happiness  I 

Marian  was  kind  and  patient.     But,  although  long-suffering 
and  loving,  she  was  a  woman,  and  a  very  proud  one.     She  was 
a  woman  with  a  torrent  of  hot  Southern  blood  coursing  through 
18 


410  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

her  veins,  which  required  all  the  force  of  an  uncommonly  well 
balanced  brain  to  subjugate  and  control  it.  She  said  nothing 
during  the  months  of  the  winter.  Rumor,  however  painful  and 
humiliating  its  whispers,  she  could  afford  to  despise.  At  worst 
she  could  lay  bare  her  mind  to  GnTord  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
and  give  him — oh,  cruel,  dismal  thought! — the  dismissal  which 
pride,  self-respect,  his  own  happiness  as  it  appeared,  would  render 
necessary. 

She  was  kind  and  patient.  But,  when  she  heard  repeated 
over  and  over  again  the  deliberate  statement  of  his  engagement 
to  Edith  Parapet,  her  patience  yielded  at  last,  and  she  resolved 
to  bring  matters  to  an  explicit  understanding.  Calmly,  but 
with  a  heart  nearly  bursting  from  the  effort  of  self-command, 
she  told  Gifford  all  she  had  heard.  She  offered  to  bring  their 
engagement  to  an  end  then  and  there.  She  reminded  him  that 
to  cover  such  a  possibility  of  change,  the  year  of  probation  had 
been  agreed  upon,  and  expressed  her  readiness  to  concede  in 
terms  what  had  thus  been  implied. 

•'Not  for  fear  of  my  own  constancy,"  she  said,  "did  I  make 
that  stipulation.  Let  it  meet  the  contingency  for  which  it  was 
intended.  I  can  share  no  man's  heart,  would  deprive  no  other 
of  a  fraction  of  it.  I  do  not  blame  you,  her,  any  one,  only  this 
must  come  to  an  end.  Your  hold  on  my  esteem  had  been  the 
greater,  were  it  ended  before.  The  love  of  such  a  woman,  so 
situated,  with  such  advantages,  such  position,  such  aspirations, 
may  be  better  suited  to  your  altered  prospects  than  mine  could 
have  been.  Let  it  be  so,  but  let  there  be  no  division,  no  par 
celling  out  in  shares,  of  love  and  affection.  Let  it  end — once 
— now,  and  forever  !" 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  flashing  eye,  the  outstretched 
arm,  the  erect,  lithe  figure,  all  quivering  as  it  was,  the  heaving 
bust,  which  responded  as  unmistakably  as  her  expressive  face 
itself  to  any  powerful  emotion.  There  was  no  mistake  as  to 
her  resolution  or  purpose,  and  Hugh  made  none.  He  was  as 
tonished,  confounded,  for  the  explosion  had  been  long  in  coming 
— so  long,  when  just  as  great  a  reason  existed,  so  far  as  his  con 
science  could  advise  him,  for  it  to  burst  forth,  that  it  seemed 
amazing  it  should  burst  forth  at  all.  But  he  loved  Marian  very 
dearly.  And,  open  to  enervating  influences  as  he  might  be, 
as  unhappily  he  had  shown  himself  to  be,  there  was  that  in 
Gifford  which  ever  made  him  rise  so  as  to  be  equal  to  any  oc 
casion,  however  great,  to  face  any  dilemma,  however  bewilder 
ing. 

Marian  was  in  no  mood  to  be  readily  pacified.     She  became 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  411 

BO,  however,  before  he  left  her.  He  protested  the  entire  falsity 
of  the  story  she  had  .heard.  It  had  color,  without  doubt;  he 
had  been  heedless,  foolish,  vain,  but  not  intentionally  guilty,  nor 
deliberately  disloyal.  Edith  was  a  most  attractive  person,  a 
most  brilliant  one.  but  never,  never  could  she  have  inspired  tfce 
love  he  felt  for  Marian.  Nor  did  he  believe  she  had  the  remo 
test  thought  of  inspiring  it.  It  was  a  blunder,  a  stupid,  mean 
ingless  blunder,  which  should  be  at  once  corrected  and  atoned. 
He  would  cease  to  visit  altogether  at  the  Parapets;  take  any 
steps — Marian  should  herself  dictate  them,  and  they  should  be 
religiously  observed. 

Most  of  these  asseverations  Hugh  delivered  very  appropri 
ately  on  his  knees  ;  delivered  them  with  all  the  eloquence,  the 
passion,  and,  above  all,  the  sincerity  which  the  critical  nature  of 
the  emergency  demanded,  and  he  earned  his  reprieve.  But,  al 
though  her  resolutions  were  beaten  down,  her  suspicions  lulled, 
her  confidence  revived  by  the  fiery  ardor,  the  outpoured  ex 
planations  of  her  repentant  lover,  Marian's  feelings  had  received 
a  shock  which  caused  their  reconciliation  to  partake  more  of 
the  nature  of  a  truce  than  of  a  lasting  peace.  Fire  there  must 
be  where  so  much  smoke  had  been ;  it  was  for  the  future  to 
show  whether  it  was  to  be  altogether  extinguished. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

NEW  YORK  enjoys  one  supreme  advantage  more  important 
than  its  many  others,  and  which  will  go  further  to  make  it 
great  as  the  years  roll  on  than  all  the  rest  combined :  it  is 
washed  on  all  sides  by  the  salt  sea.  Neptune  strives  hard  to 
undo  the  dirty  work  of  civic  councillors,  by  sweeping  with  his 
purifying  surge  through  the  quays  and  slips  and  wharfs,  and 
thus,  at  least  twice  during  the  day,  he  makes  sweet  and  whole 
some  the  water  and  air  which  defective  drainage  and  cloud 
less  skies  have  done  so  much  to  pollute.  It  is  one  of  the  nu 
merous  instances  in  this  couutry  where  nature  does  so  much  to 
confer  blessings  which  are  quietly  cited  as  proofs  of  the  wis 
dom  of  man. 

What  a  glorious  harbor !  Swelled  with  the  volume  of  the 
magnificent  Hudson,  the  inner  bay  affords  an  expanse  of  full 
five-and  twenty  square  miles,  whose  entrance,  like  that  of  San 


412  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

Francisco,  is  through  a  portal  of  scarcely  one  in  width.  Gem 
med  with  green  islets,  circled  with  purple  hills,  brimming  with 
the  tributary  floods  of 'the  mountain  region  to  the  North,  guarded 
at  throat  and  channel-line  by  sweeps  of  snowy  ramparts  where 
the  starry  banner  floats  over  hundreds  of  heavy  guns,  there  are 
few  places  on  earth  whose  approach  inspires  such  ideas  of  space 
and  beauty  and  strength  as  does  New  York  harbor.  There  is  not, 
truly,  the  majesty  of  distant  pinnacle  and  mountain  top  which 
keep  guard  over  its  occidental  sister  •  but  there  is  a  variety,  an 
extent  and  a  panoramic  effect  of  undulating  and  cultivated  loveli 
ness  which  are  all  its  own. 

Beyond  the  Narrows  rolls  the  far  Atlantic.  In  the  sultry  mid 
summer  days,  when  the  thermometer  rises  to  a  hundred  degrees 
in  the  shade,  pleasure  or  health  seekers  may  leave  the  city  piers, 
and,  in  less  than  an  hour,  be  drinking  the  inspiriting  breezes  from 
the  great  reservoir  of  the  open  sea ;  a  blessed  privilege,  as  those 
who  have  been  able  to  enjoy  it  can  well  attest.  But  there  are 
days  long  before  midsummer  when  the  air  hangs  still  and  murky 
about  the  island  city,  and  when  a  draught  of  fresh  air  from  the 
sea  is  a  grateful  tonic  to  its  denizens ;  days  when  a  foretaste  of 
what  July  and  August  are  to  bring  is  afforded  by  a  close,  thick 
atmosphere,  which  dims  the  sun  without  showing  any  definite 
cloud ;  days  when  subtle  and  mysterious  odors  steal  about  the 
cross  streets  which  run  to  the  rivers,  and  occasionally  venture 
into  Broadway,  to  remind  people  of  a  prospective  luxury  so  abun 
dant  in  the  solstice  of  Sirius. 

It  was  on  such  a  day,  when  a  gray  veil  hung  over  the  town, 
although  the  sky  and  sea  beyond  the  Narrows  were  of  a  laughing 
blue,  that  some  of  our  friends  were  to  be  found  on  the  deck  of 
the  Ariadne,  standing  outwards  about  S.  S.  E.  from  Sandy  Hook. 
At  about  a  cable's  length  abeam  glided  the  Sylphide,  the  air  just 
filling  her  towering  canvas,  while  her  pennon  and  streamers 
now  flew  straight  from  their  halyards,  and  anon  fell  idly  and  flut 
tered  by  their  sides. 

It  was  two  o'clock,  and  they  had  been  waiting  since  nine  for 
such  a  breeze  as  would  give  fair  opportunity  for  the  projected 
trial  of  speed.  Earlier  in  the  day  it  had  been  well-nigh  calm,  so 
that  all  the  enormous  spread  of  sail  the  two  yachts  could  show 
had  been  needed  to  force  them  slowly  through  a  sea  like  a  mill- 
pond,  which  reached  from  Fort  Hamilton  to  the  Battery. 

Outside  the  Narrows,  delicate  little  waves  were  tumbling  and 
wrestling  merrily  in  the  sun-beams,  but  the  zephyrs  hardly  ruffled 
their  crests,  and  the  sun  was  falling  before  there  was  wind  enough 
to  keep  the  sails  full  without  that  intermittent  flapping  backwards 


HE    QUEST   FOR    FORTUNE.  413 

so  discordant  to  the  ears  of  expectant  yachtsmen,  and,  ah  I  how 
far  more  so  to  those  who  have  long  voyages  before  them.  By  four 
bells  however,  for  nothing  else  would  the  bluejackets  of  a  clay  call 
two  o'clock,  the  breeze  freshened,  and  the  craft  were  running  about 
fiveknots  as  they  made  long  tacks  back  and  forth  athwart  the  Hook. 
When  the  sun  should  fall  an  hour  or  two  lower,  the  wind  was 
confidently  expected  to  freshen  into  a  stiff  breeze,  and  the  race 
was  to  be  from  the  Hook  straight  through  the  Narrows,  and 
around  the  lighthouse  on  Bobbin's  Reef. 

If  neatness  and  elegance  could  make  a  schooner  swift,  the 
Ariadne  should  surely  have  been  second  to  none.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  beauty  of  her  run,  the  taper  grace  of  her  spars,  the 
compact  finish  of  her  wood-work,  the  taut  simplicity  of  her  rig 
ging.  Neither,  to  descend  from  externals,  could  more  luxury 
and  convenience  have  been  united  than  were  to  be  found  in  her 
cabin.  The  furniture,  the  tiny  state-rooms,  the  miniature  rack  of 
arms,  the  lockers,  the  table  gear,  were  each  as  perfect  of  their 
kind  as  they  well  could  be.  There  was  every  appearance  then, 
both  alow  and  aloft,  of  the  most  sagacious  and  comprehensive 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends  ;  and  an  acute  observer  would  have 
found  such  evidences  of  success  in  aught  she  might  undertake  about 
the  Ariadne,  that  nought  could  have  made  him  doubt  of  it  until 
he  had  seen  the  Sylphide.  That  rival  vessel,  in  truth,  seemed 
quite  as  perfect  ;  and,  untried  as  both  were,  no  means  remained 
to  settle  their  respective  pretensions,  save  the  practical  test  on 
which  their  owners  now  alike  were  bent. 

Bang  went  Mr.  Pinckney's  swivel  for  about  the  tenth  tune 
since  noon. 

"Ha  I  ha !"  laughed  Clinton  Parapet,  "  Wirt  grows  impatient 
as  the  day  gets  older  ;  but  we'll  cool  his  zeal  before  sundown, 
unless  the  saucy  Ariadne  falls  far  short  of  her  promise." 

"  No  fear,  sir,"  said  John  Brime,  ex-New  York  pilot,  and  now 
skipper  of  the  Ariadne,  "if  we  only  get  wind.  We're  nigh 
enough  alike  to  be  sisters,  save  and  exceptin'  allus  she  is  a  few 
shavins  lighter  aloft,  Jest  the  odds  that  we  kin  kerry  our  upper 
story  kites  when  she'll  have  to  haul  her'n." 

"  That  is  to  say,  in  a  light  breeze  she  has  the  advantage,  you 
think  r 

"You  see,  sir,  she  draws  a  thought  to  windward  of  us.  This 
air,  light  as  it  is,  is  flawy.  When  it  puffs  up  we  hold  our  own, 
and  something  better.  But  the  difference  '11  be  in  kerryin'  all  in 
a  stiffish  blow." 

'•Old  Boreas  is  too  sedate  for  that  to-day,  I  fear." 

"  I  don't  know  that,  sir.     That  smoke  yonder  that's  been  hug- 


-1  1-1  MARIAN     KOoKK  ;    OR, 

gin'  Long  Isl:ui(l  nil  tlu!  morniif  like.  :i  sweetheart,  is  ;t  curlin'  its 
onlcr  t-clo-rs  like  :i  tickled  caterpillar,  .lest,  see  it,  hist  there,  sir, 
1<>  the  north'ardand  cast'ard  ;  and  see  that  ribbon  of  clear  dark 
blue  opening  under  the.  ha/.c  !" 

k>  AIM!  that'8  wind,  is  it,  !" 

M  Knough  to  make  the  water  bil(«  under  our  keel  afore  Rundown, 
or  I'm  a  lubber.  1  lowrmmever,  it's  easier  to  Hay  it  than  to  make 
i!  eome,  and  seein's  believin'.  Kasc  away  a  bit  on  that  jib-sheet,, 
will  ye,  Jim  >.  The  wind's  a  pint  free,  and  ye've  got  her  as  tight 
;»s  a  drum." 

The  two  schooners  ivcre  very  much  alike,  in  length  and  in 
symmetry,  in  the  moulding  of  their  runs,  and  t  he  e.\t  reine  sharp- 
ness  of  their  bows  :  alike  in  I  he  c,;it  and  si/e  of  their  sails,  and  in 
the  BUmptUOUS  fittings  of  their  cabins  J  alike  in  the  inviting  re 
pasts  spread  in  their  cabins,  and  plenteously  Hanked  by  costly 
wines.  l»ut  in  respec,t  of  their  passengers  the  resemblance  cer 
tainly  ceased.  Theso  aquatic  eZOUTSionS  not  uncommonly  bring 
together  rather  incongruous  assemblages,  and  this  was  no  excep 
tion.  \\y  an  ingenious  I  issue  ormisreprcsentations  and  evasions, 
(Tmton  had  managed  t,o  get  his  sister  on  board,  in  ignorance  that 
Horn  Dimity  was  to  be  of  the  party  ;  nor  did  she  detect,  what 
t-.Ii'.'  certainly  would  have  resented  by  refusing  to  go.  until  the 
yacht  was  irrevocably  on  her  way.  'The  same  device,  cost  Clin 
ton  the  company  of  I  high  ( iifford.  Mr.  Kivingstone  and  Ma 
rian  were  of  Pinckney's  parly  ;  and  after  what  had  passed,  OUT 
hero  of  course  was  bound  to  be  of  the  same  or  neil  her.  On  board 
the  Sylphide,  too,  was  .Mr.  Salalhi'-l  Doke,  although  nobody 
knew  who  invited  him;  and  Mr.  (Jollop,  who  scarcely  cvcrquit- 
te<l  (Jiflbrd  now,  either  night,  or  day. 

Moreover,  the  same  party  included,  besides  several  pretty  girls, 
chaperoned  by  a  suitable  elder  of  the  I'mckncy  set,  Mr.  Clyde, 
who  had  returned  to  town  after  settling  the  aflairs  of  the  State 
at  Rochester,  and  Mr.  Illobb,  who  \vas  making  an  elaborate  report 
of  the  beauties  and  dimensions  of  the  Sylphide  for  the  columns 
of  I  lie  (!rnt.itrion. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Ariadne  boasted  the  society  of  Mr. 
Uladderly  Hylic,  who,  unmindful  of  the  Drierly  rebuke,  had 
obtained  permission  to  introduce  his  friends,  Mr.  Randolph  Bur 
ger  and  Mr.  Walsinghain  Seulile  5  a  couple  of  Drierly  Shades, 
who,  in  the  absence  of  pa,  were  not  disinclined  to  receive  atten 
tion  from  those  wretched  malefactors;  divers  dignified  I'arapet- 
ian  connections,  chielly  sea-sick;  and  a  representative  of  the 
()/>titn./xfy  who  smuggled  himself  on  board  by  observing  that  he 
u  friend  of  Mr.  Gilford's,  who  had  appointed  to  meet  him 


1111,    viCKST    FOR    FORTfNK.  415 

there,  a  statenv  nt  which  a  little  reflection  would  have  persuaded 

Clinton  was  untrue,  but  that  he  was  occupied  just  at  tin-  time  in 
admiring  those  lovely  blonde  curls  of  Flora  Dimity's  which  stole 
so  bewitchingly  from  under  her  hat. 

There  were  these  additional  points  of  resemblance  between 
the  two  yachts,  that  the  conversation  on  board  both  ciiidly  ran 
on  the  probable  chances  of  beating  the  other  in  the  expected 
contest,  and  that  the  copious  libations  of  Mi  ^srs.  Gollop,  Dokc, 
and  the  representative  of  the  Cfnturion  were  fairly  paralleled  by 
Messrs.  Burgee,  Scuttle,  and  the  representative  of  the1  Opt<mi.<t. 
with  this  difference,  that  whereas  the  iirsi-named  eoiiplr  became, 
as  a  result,  more  thick  of  speech  and  more  disagreeably  familiar 
as  the  day  wore  on,  the  Southerners  only  grew  more  distinct 
and  more  studiously  punctilious — a  philosophical  enigma  which 
those  who  choose  may  investigate. 

"  I  was  down  on  that  'ere  island."  obsrryed  Mr.  (lollop,  point 
ing  to  a  line  of  white  sand  as  he  thirstily  disposed  of  his  do/.enih 
cocktail,  ••  with  the  city  authorities,  to  a  elambake  last  tall  :  and 
three,  o'  the  aldermen  got  loaded  on  apple-jack,  and  lell  a-leep  in 
a  bath-house,  they  did.  So  wo  jest  capsi/.ed  'em,  doors  down, 
and  poured  pails  o'  water  all  over  the  top.  lettin'  on  that  the  tide 
was  eomin'  in  :  and  whilst  the  rest  on  'em  was  hollerhf  *  murder' 
and  'let  me  out,'  old  Pete  M'Sn.-.rliy  sings  out,  *  If  thai'-  BO, 
jest,  for  God's  sake,  do  put  the  kag  of  apple-jack  aboard,  and  let 
'em  go  to  sea  all  serene.'  Jack  is  I  Vic's  bait,  jack  is." 

••  Ho,  ho,  ho!"  roared  the  appreciative  Doke.  "That  was  about 
the  time  they  all  voted  for  the  .Madison  Gridiron  Hill,  weren't 
it!  Dan  O'Gorrill  swears  you  wouldn't  let'em  out  till  they 
promised  to  vote  the  thing  through  fire  and  water,  if  need  was; 
and  that  they  all  made  oath  to't,  then  and  there,  with  the  kag 
o'  jack  for  a  Bible." 

4< It  took  more'n  the  kag  o' jack."  said  Mr.  Gollop,  grimly, 
•'you'd  better  believe.  But  them  stories  do  very  well  to  pasa 
among  the  boys.  Men  o'  their  kind  love  their  rum,  but  they  don't 
bait  on  rum  exclusive.  If  they  did  I'd  be  better  oft* — or  wuss." 
With  which  bewildering  statement,  Mr.  Gollop  lit  a  cigar,  and 
again  prepared  to  "smile." 

"Do  you  understand  their  jargon  .'"  asked  Eldon  Clyde, 
remarking  that  Hugh  seemed  to  overbear  the  conversation  just 
described  ;  for  they  stood  by  an  open  skylight  which  rose  from 
the  cabin  through  the  quarter-deck. 

"Quite  well  enough.  I  believe  ;  both  gentlemen  have  favored 
me  with  abundance  of  it  of  late." 

"  And  what  do  you  think  of  them  7"  pursued  Clyde,  with  a 


416  MAKIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

grave  smile,  '-candidly  now,  and,  of  course,  between  our 
selves?" 

"  Candidly  then,  I  think  them  fair  specimens  of  a  class,  un- 
happilytoo  numerous,  who  make  a  complete  trade  of  the  weak 
nesses  and  crimes  of  their  fellow-men  ;  and  who  utilize  universal 
suffrage  in  the!  most  profitable  manner,  by  buying  and  selling 
the  poor  rapscallions  whom  it  places  in  office.  I  have  undertaken 
to  do  something  wherein  you  tell  me  their  services  may  be  made 
valuable,  but  I  cannot  the  less  despise  them,  or  regret  the  work 
ings  of  a  system  Avhich  invites  the  existence  of  such  a  class,  and 
renders  their  misdeeds  possible." 

"  Yet  you  are  not  unwilling  to  buy  their  help?"  queried  the 
older  man,  archly. 

"Very  unwilling,"  replied  Gifford,  reddening ;  "but  dislik 
ing  to  undertake  a  project  and  then  to  abandon  it — ignorant  of 
the  modus  operand^  and  so  forced  to  depend  on  the  teachings  of 
others — I  strive  to  reconcile  my  conscience  to  an  application  of 
the  maxim  that,  being  at  Home,  I  may  do  as  Romans  do.'' 

"Come,"  said  Clyde,  more  seriously,  "the  system  is  not  so 
bad  after  all.  What  you  justly  condemn  is  notoriously  prevalent 
in  our  large  seaboard  cities,  where  is  massed  a  vast  immigrant 
population,  but  there  is  little  or  none  of  it  in  the  greater  part  of 
the  country — the  vast  agricultural  interior.  Our  theory  lies  in 
choosing  the  leaser  of  two  evils,  or  rather,  so  to  speak,  in  over 
coming  a  considerable  urban  evil  by  a  preponderating  rural  good. 
I'm  not  one  of  those  who  think  that  ethics  and  politics  can  be 
made  utterly  distinct,  still  you  cannot  make  them  convertible 
terms.  The  gist  of  the  whole  matter  is,  that  when  everything 
is  said  and  done,  the  moral,  steadfast  and  homogeneous  country 
always  out-votes,  and  consequently  controls  the  brawling,  giddy, 
and  hybrid  town." 

"  I  ought  to  go  into  political  life  in  the  country,"  said  Hugh, 
thoughtfully,  "if  at  all." 

"Why,  to  tell  you  the  truth,"  said  Mr.  Clyde,  laughing,  "  I 
think  you  would  find  it  more  congenial.  Only  if  you  ask  my 
opinion  or  advice  as  to  what  these  civic  fuglemen  can  do  for  you, 
I  give  it,  mind  not  ethically,  but  politically." 

"  And  if  a  lady's  opinion  were  ever  likely  to  be  asked  upon 
such  a  profound  subject,"  laughed  Marian,  for  the  speakers  had 
come  close  to  where  she  was  seated  during  their  discussion,  "  I 
should  offer  as  mine,  that  whoso  touch eth  pitch  shall  be-,defiled  I" 

"  Alas,  fayre  ladye  !"  said  the  politician,  with  a  courtly  bow, 
"  the  dirty  work  of  the  nation  must  be  done  by  some  one,  and  I 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  417 

need  not  tell  so  thoughtful  an  observer  that  we  cannot  all  be 
Parapets." 

A  blush  rose  to  the  lovely  face,  which  was  not  altogether  one 
of  pleasure,  and  Hugh  looked  a  little  embarrassed. 

'•Must  the  work  needs  be  of  such  a  description,"  asked  Ma 
rian  with  her  simple  straightforwardness,  ' ;  because  not  done  by 
Parapets '?" 

••  I'll  tell  you  one  thing,  Miss  Rooke,  which  won't  be  done  by 
a  Parapet,"  cried  Wirt  Pinckney,  coming  up  in  great  good  humor, 
'•  and  that  is,  to  beat  the  Sylphide  1" 

"  You  feel  sure  of  that,  Mr.  Pinckney  1  Take  care  !  Over- 
confidence  is  no  augur  of  success." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  reckon  without  my  host.  Our  blue  jackets  tell 
me  that  we  can  beat  them  famously  in  light  winds,  and  it  seems 
we  are  to  have  no  other.  Their  top-hamper  is  weightier  than 
ours,  they  say.  and  if  the  breeze  steadies,  we  shall  draw  away 
from  them  in  no  time." 

"  Bravo !"  cried  Eldon  Clyde.  "  There's  nothing  like  being 
on  the  winning  side." 

'•Especially,"  amended  Marian,  "especially,  Mr.  Clyde,  if  it's 
the  right  one." 

••  Ah,  stern  moralist,  you  did  not  hear  Mr.  Gifford  and  me  just 
now  drawing  distinctions  between  politics  and  ethics." 

"  Distinctions !  If  you  do  indeed  draw  them,  it  suggests  an 
explanation  which  has  often  puzzled  me." 

"  As  to  what  ?" 

''The  reason  why  politicians  object  to  let  women  vote." 

"  You  shall  vote  here.  Miss  Rooke,"  said  Pinckney,  "  and 
carry  the  election,  though  you  be  in  a  minority.  Shall  it  be 
Chambertin  or  Champagne  ?  'Tis  long  past  noon,  and  we  haven't 
spliced  the  main  brace — quite  an  indispensable  ceremony  for 
sailors." 

"  Why  then,  Chambertin,  Mr.  Pinckney;  much  the  more  sober 
and  unpretending,  and  the  Sylphide  makes  foam  and  sparkle 
enough  as  it  is." 

"  Champagne  for  me,"  quoth  Mr.  Rivingstone.  gaily.  "  My 
older  blood  can  stand  a  fillip,  and  be  none  the  worse." 

"Bravo!"  cried  Clyde;  ';  I'll  join  you  so  as  to  have  an  ally 
against  your  fair  ward,  who  seeks  to  punish  me  for  all  the  sins, 
omitted  or  committed,  of  the  day." 

"Nay,  that  isn't  fair,"  urged  Marian  ;  "  only  for  those  of  which 
you  avow  yourself  the  champion." 

"Let  me  be  your  Ganymede,  Miss  Rooke,"  solicited  Mr. 
Blobb,  drawn  irresistibly  to  the  spot  by  the  popping  of  Cham- 
18* 


418  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

pagne  corks,  "  if  not  your  champion.  I'll  take  the  humbler 
post  rather  than  interfere  with  so  many  doughty  candidates."  » 

"  For  shame,  Blobb!"  said  Wirt  Pinckney:  "  I  thought  yours 
was  only  a  temperance  journal — in  point  of  fact,  a  teetotaller!" 

"  Ah,  Mr.  Pinckney,  you.  must  give  us  poor  scribblers  a  little 
latitude — at  least  on  salt  water." 

"Take  your  Champagne,  Blobb,"  advised  Mr.  Clyde,  "and 
may  it  make  your  report  more  sparkling. " 

"The  subject  needs  no  stimulus,"  returned  Blobb,  gallantly, 
"but  I'll  do  my  best." 

"  Angels  can  no  more,"  cried  Pinckney.  "  Here's  to  Blobb's 
best!" 

"Champagne  and  oysters,"  remarked  Mr.  Gollop,  heralding 
his  approach  with  an  audible  aside,  "  Champagne  and  oysters  is 
Blobb's  baits,  they  are.  When  I  want  to  capture  Blobb,  I  say, 
k  Champagne  and  oysters,'  and  he  nibbles  quicker'n  a  wink." 

"  Ha !  ha  I  ha !"  cachinnated  Mr.  Doke  ;  "I  heard  somethin' 
drop,  Mr.  Pinckney,  and  I'm  always  in  at  the  death!" 

"Quite  right,  Mr.  Doke.  Steward,  more  Champagne !  I  do 
believe  they're  trying  to  put  another  gaff-topsail  on  the  Ariadne. 
Miss  Rooke,  will  you  kindly  propose  a  toast?" 

' '  With  much  pleasure.  And  may  it  prove  more  than  a  toast 
— a  Drophecy !  Here's  success  to  the  Sylphide  !" 

"  Omncs.     Hip !     Hip  !     Hurrah  !" 

Boom !  boom !  boom !  went  three  great  guns  from  Fort 
Hamilton,  far  away  to  the  northward.  Some  man-of-war  was 
coming  out.  And  bang  replied  the  Sylphide' s  tiny  brass  bull 
dog  on  her  forecastle.  The  cheer  was  plainly  regarded  as  a  de 
fiance  on  board  the  Ariadne,  for  presently  was  heard  echoing 
faintly  across  the  water  a  hurrah  in  reply.  In  a  moment  after, 
there  came  cleaving  swiftly  through  the  waters  of  the  Narrows, 
and  firing  gun  after  gun  from  port  and  starboard  battery,  in  re 
sponse  to  the  salutation  of  the  forts,  a  great  war-steamer,  out 
ward  bound. 

"  We  are  in  august  neighborhood,"  said  Clyde,  as  he  counted 
the  reports.  "  She  carries  an  ambassador." 

"  I  don't  like  this  'ere  wastin'  money  and  burnin'  powder  for 
empty  forms,"  criticized  Mr.  Gollop.  "  We  don't  ketch  nothin' 
by  it.  It  don't  set  us  ahead  any,  that  folks  fires  back.  I  don't 
see  the  good  on't." 

"Perhaps  not,"  returned  Clyde,  coolly;  "  but  you  see  we  find 
it  prudent  to  respect  the  representatives  of  other  nations  if  we 
don't  respect  our  own." 

"  I  don't  keer  how  much  you  keep  on  respectm'  of  'em," 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  419 

muttered  Goflop  as  he  turned  away,  •'*  not  a  cuss,  so  long  as  it 
don't  cost  nut  bin'." 

••'A  very  fair  commentary  on  much  of  our  popular  democ 
racy,"  said  Hugh  Gifford,  bitterly,  -'  which  grudges  all  that 
may  give  dignity  TO  the  nation  abroad,  and  nothing  which  may 
encourage  corruption  at  home.  A  liberal  outfit  for  a  foreign 
minister  is  decried  as  anti-republican  ;  and  more  money  is  liter 
ally  stolen  every  year  from  -the  people  to  enrich  greasy  politi 
cians  in  the  city  of  New  York  alone,  than  would  double  the 
salaries  of  every  United  States  minister,  commissioner,  secre 
tary  or  consul,  the  nation  maintains  abroad." 

•  Sec,  we  shall  not  want  for  company  up  the  bay,"  cried 
Marian,  pointing  seaward.  The  weather  had  been  nearly  calm 
for  a  day  or  two  before,  and,  indeed,  the  breeze  was  but  light 
now.  Still  it  had  been  sufficient  to  gather  scores  of  inward- 
bound  craft,  who  were  now  closing  in  on  the  eastern  horizon 
from  every  direction,  and  making  what  had  been  an  hour  or 
two  before  but  a  lonely  blue  line,  populous  with  silvery  sails. 

Meanwhile,  on  board  the  Ariadne,  rather  less  hilarity  pre 
vailed  than  with  the  company  of  the  Sylphide,  since  tLere  were 
to  be  found  there  not  only  less  ease,  but  more  conflicting  ele 
ments  to  harmonize.  To  assuage  Edith's  annoyance  at  what  she 
regarded  as  a  deception  practised  upon  her,  and,  at  the  same  time 
to  make  ardent  love  to  Flora  Dimity;  to  entertain  his  other  guests, 
and  to  watch  the  performance  of  his  schooner,  constituted  an 
aggregate  of  duties  which  might  have  taxed  even  a  person  of 
habitually  industrious  habits;  and  much  more  onerous  were 
they  to  a  gentleman  so  exclusively  versed  in  doing  nothing. 
Both  Clinton  and  Edith  were  irritated  by  the  absence  of  Gil 
ford,  although  for  manifestly  different  reasons.  It  had  been  at 
first  arranged  that  he  was  to  be  of  the  Ariadne  party  :  and  not 
until  the  time  of  departure  was  Clinton  informed  that  Hugh 
found  it  necessary  to  make  a  change,  while  Edith  was  ignorant 
of  it  for  some  time  after.  The  schooners  were  often  quite  near 
enough  to  each  other,  however,  to  forestall  the  need  of  expla 
nations,  since  all  on  the  deck  of  one  were  recognizable  from 
that  of  the  other. 

"  Pray,  Edith,  acquit  me  of  any  blame  in  the  matter,"  at  whis 
pered  Clinton,  knowing  well  how  wise  it  would  be  for  him  to 
make  his  peace  before  reaching  home.  "  There  was  a  mistake, 
you  see ;  Gifford  was  to  be  with  us,  and  Miss  Dimity  was  to  go 
with  Pinckney." 

uThe  latter  I  disbelieve,  so  don't  repeat  it ;  as  to  the  former, 
if  Mr.  Gifford  made  an  engagement,  which  he  afterwards  chose 


420  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

to  break,  it  is  a  question  for  him  to  settle  with  his  own  sense  of 
politeness,  and  certainly  nothing  to  me." 

"  He  did  not  break  it,  not  strictly,  for  he  apologized  amply 
before  the  carriage  brought  you  down,  and  explained " 

"Well,  what?" 

"  That  it  was  important  he  should  see  Clyde,  who  will  only 
be  in  town  for  two  days,  and  the  opportunity  was  too  good  to 
be  missed,  and  so " 

"Mr.  Clyde  could  not  possibly  be  asked  onboard  the  Ari 
adne?" 

' '  On  the  contrary,  he  was ;  but  Pinckney  happened  to  ask 
him  first ;  that's  all.  Now,  like  a  dear,  charming  sister  as  you 
are,  do  be  a  little  civil  to  this  poor  migonne,  whom  you've  fright 
ened  half  out  of  her  wits  with  your  stately  ways,  and  I'll  swear 
to  obey  you  in  anything  for  a  month  to  come — there!"  And 
Clinton  flew  away  to  say  something  civil  to  pretty  Flora,  him 
self,  by  way  of  avant  courier. 

"Monstrous  strange,  Miss  Parapet!"  observed  Mr.  Walsing- 
ham  Scuttle,  * '  that  Pinckney  should  have  those  very  odd  people, 
Gollop  and  Poke,  of  his  party !  Why,  I'm  told  they're  almost 
disreputable  "?" 

"They  are  not  of  the  elite,  certainly,"  said  Edith;  "but  the 
Pinckneys  are  a  trifle  more  allied  with  political  circles  than 
ourselves ;  and  I  suppose  they  find  it  to  their  account  to  en 
dure  its  penalties  now  and  again.  For  my  part,  I  could  never 
believe  the  game  paid  for  the  candle." 

"I  should  say  not,  indeed.  Why,  they  are  perfect  boors! 
Quite  unresentable,  and " 

44 Hist!  I  beg  pardon  ;  but  I  feared  Miss  Drierly  might  hear 
you." 

One  of  the  Shades  had  indeed  just  glided  towards  the  cabin 
door,  her  customary  sallow  modifying  ominously  to  a  delicate 
green. 

"Thanks.  I  know  the  creatures  visit  there;  and  it  seemed 
to  me  to  be  equally  odd." 

"  The  same  reason.  They  have  r;reat  strength,  great  in 
fluence  with  the  masses  ;  one  through  political  connections,  the 
other  through  a  heavy  and  unscrupulous  purse." 

"  Ah,  those  are  implements  which,  in  our,  section  are  usually 
wielded  by  gentlemen." 

"But  your  section  doesn't  invite  immigration.  Voila  tout. 
However,  you'll  find  Mr.  Flytte  a  capital  authority  in  these  mys 
teries." 

"  Pardon,  for  boring  you  with  so  dry  a  subject.     You  know  I 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  421 

am  quite  a  neophyte  in  Northern  politics,  and  too  eager  to  be  in 
structed.  May  I  not  bring  you  some  fruit,  or  a  glass  of  wine  *" 

"  Pray  take'nothing,  dear  Miss  Parapet,"  urged  Miss  Drierly, 
reappearing  from  the  cabin,  and  looking  somewhat  more  com 
posed.  "  We  are  to  have  luncheon  presently,  and  it  looks  so  ex 
cessively  nice  1  Really,  Mr.  Parapet  has  an  exquisite  taste  in 
these  things." 

Mr.  Parapet  piqued  himself  on  his  taste  in  most  things — es 
pecially  in  the  article  of  pretty  blonds — and  he  was  exhibiting  it 
at  the  moment,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  deck,  with  admirable 
emprcssemcnt. 

"A  golden  sunset  I"  he  murmured,  echoing  a  suggestion  from 
the  lovely  creature  in  the  blue  hat  beside  him,  and  who  looked 
as  if  she  were  floating  in  azure  muslin  draperies.  ' '  Oh,  yes  ; 
and  a  beautiful  one,  no  doubt  ;  yet  not  so  beautiful  a  gold  as 
certain  fairy  tresses  I  know  of!" 

"Nonsense,"  blushed  the  conscious  Flora;  "  nonsense,  Mr. 
Parapet ;  how  can  there  possibly  be  a  comparison  between  the 
sky  and hah-  ?" 

"  Quite  right,  I  agree  perfectly.  What  I  meant  to  convey  was, 
that  there  certainly  could  be  none  1" 

"Flatterer  !" 

"  There  can  be  no  flattery  in  the  cold  statement  of  a  physical 
fact.  Now,  the  deep,  melting  blue  of  yonder  sky " 

"Clinton,"  cried  Edith,  from  the  other  side,  "I  should  like  to 
show  Miss  Dimity  those  aquatic  views  you  said  were  in  the  saloon, 
if  you  will  permit  me ;  and  since  Miss  Drierly  declares  luncheon 
to  be  nearly  ready,  we  may,  perhaps,  as  well  retire  !" 

The  gentlemen  all  raised  their  hats,  and  Miss  Parapet  bore  off 
the  simpering  beauty  in  triumph. 

"What  can  Parapet  see  to  admire  in  that  doll-faced  girl  I" 
marvelled,  sotto  voce,  Mr.  Burgee,  who  had  hay-colored  hah*  and 
no-colored  eyes. 

"Doll-faced  girl!"  repeated  Mr.  Scuttle,  a  Spanish-looking 
man,  with  raven  hair  and  flashing  eyes  of  jet.  "  Why,  she's  a 
perfect  Hebe!" 

"  De  gmtibusi  et  cetera,  et  cetera,"  said  Mr.  Flytte,  as  he  threw 
the  stump  of  his  cigar  into  the  bubbling  waters,  and  finished  the 
last  stanzas  of  that  kt  Ode  to  the  Sea,"  which  his  brother  bard 
Prodder  afterwards  criticized  so  savagely — and  so  anonymously — 
in  the  columns  of  the  sparkling  Sideboard. 

"Fearfully  hot  it's  getting,"  said  Clinton,  thus  bereft  of  his 
idol.  "  Why,  what  the  deuce  !"  he  cried  more  hastily,  "what's 
the  matter,  Brime  ?  We  seem  to  be  at  a  stand-still !" 


422  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

"  That's  jest  it,  sir.  The  wind's  dropping  us  like  a  hot  potato ; 
and  look !  the  Sylphide' s  becalmed  as  well !  I  was  afeerd  'twould 
be  so,  pervided  it  didn't  freshen.  It'll  stay  like  this  maybe  till 
sundown,  and  then  come  out  stiff*  from  somewhere's  else — most 
like  from  the  north' ard." 

The  wind  had  indeed  fallen  very  suddenly,  and  the  gray  veil 
which  had  lifted  somewhat  from  the  northern  horizon  seemed  to 
be  quietly  settling  down  again  for  the  night.  The  Sylphide  lay 
at  about  a  hundred  yards  from  her  consort,  whose  sails  and  stream 
ers  were  flattering  sluggishly  against  her  rigging,  and  which 
seemed  otherwise  motionless.  The  two  schooners  had  been 
making,  as  has  been  said,  long  stretches  in  lines  at  a  right  angle 
to  the  projection  of  Sandy  Hook,  and  the  breeze  had  left  them 
two  or  three  miles  away  from  it.  For  a  while  the  water  ap 
peared  to  dance  and  eddy  about  them,  thus  giving  some  life  and 
vivacity  to  the  scene.  But  soon,  from  a  counteracting  action  of 
the  tide,  it  became  apparently  as  torpid  and  motionless  as  the 
yachts  themselves,  each  of  which  now  lay  becalmed — "  like  a 
painted  ship  upon  a  painted  ocean." 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  voyagers  did  what  people  are 
very  apt  to  do  when  thus  imprisoned  in  hopeless  passivity,  betook 
themselves  to  the  dinner-table  for  such  consolation  as  they  might 
find.  And  in  neither  case  was  there  any  room  for  disappoint 
ment  ;  for,  whatever  Clinton's  taste  or  liberality  in  such  matters, 
Wirt  Pinckney  was  no  whit  behind  him  ;  so  that  a  couple  of 
hours  passed  away  very  pleasantly,  and  there  being  not  enough 
movement  to  cause  inconvenience  even  to  the  most  delicate,  the 
ladies  got  on  as  happily  as  their  companions. 

The  two  hours  having  passed,  however,  and  the  parties 
having  returned  to  their  respective  decks,  prospects  did  not  ap 
pear  quite  so  cheerful.  It  was  now  past  six  o'clock,  and  the  sun 
was  going  down,  not  in  gold,  but  in  a  bank  of  sullen,  leaden- 
looking  clouds.  The  horizon  was  thickly  dotted  with  vessels  as 
motionless  as  their  own,  and  with  glasses  it  could  be  seen  that 
no  flag  on  any  of  the  distant  forts  was  lifted  by  even  an  excep 
tional  puff  of  air.  All  hung  drooping,  dull,  and  spiritless. 

As  the  sun  sank  behind  the  cloud-bank  which  covered  his  point 
of  departure  on  the  horrizon,  the  windless  air  grew  chilly,  so  that 
Edith  Parapet  was  glad  to  don  a  crimson  burnous  to  eke  out  the 
warmth  of  her  gauzy  muslin  ;  an  example  which  the  ladies  on 
board  the  two  yachts  were  not  slow  to  follow.  Meanwhile,  both 
Captain  Brime  and  the  skipper  of  the  Sylphide,  ill-pleased  with 
the  ominous  calm  which  surrounded  them,  had  shortened  their 
towering  canvas  until  fore  and  mainsails  were  under  close  reefs, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  423 

and  nothing  was  seen  forward  but  the  scantiest  possible  apologies 
for  jibs.  The  work  was  done  in  each  vessel  simultaneously,  eo 
that  both  were  in  what  Brime  called  then*  fighting  rig  at  the  same 
moment. 

Whether  due  to  a  vague  presentiment  of  coming  danger  or 
simply  to  curiosity,  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  yachts  view 
ed  these  preparations  in  absolute  silence.  It  seemed  a  melancholy 
and  foreboding  evening  to  follow  so  gay  and  sprightly  a  day ;  but 
the  silence  was  so  deep,  so  oppressive,  that  the  slightest  move 
ment  of  block  or  tackle  from  either  vessel  smote  on  the  ears  of 
those  on  board  the  other  as  if  it  must  needs  be  within  reach  of 
their  hands. 

Presently  the  darkness  grew  denser,  and  on  the  horizon  deli 
cate  ribbons  of  blue  lightning  began  playing  and  dancing  fan 
tastically,  while,  as  if  in  reproof,  hoarse  and  distant,  but  perfect 
ly  audible,  the  thunder  began  to  mutter  and  roll  in  company. 

'•How  silent  they  are  on  board  the  Ariadne!"  said  Marian 
breathlessly  to  Gifford;  "  I  could  see  Miss  Parapet  sitting  by  the 
bulwark  in  a  crimson  shawl  by  that  light,  and  a  group  around 
her  as  pale  and  speechless  as  herself.  Strange  they  should  keep 
so  very  still !" 

'•  I  dare  say  they  think  the  same  of  us,"  answered  Hugh, 
laughing,  "  since  your  voice  is  the  first  I  have  heard  for  full  ten 
minutes!" 

<;  What.  Mr.  Pinckney  !"  cried  Eldon  Clyde.  "  You  haven't 
brought  us  here  to  offer  up  so  many  sacrifices  to  the  fishes  of 
New  York  Bay !" 

"•  Heaven  forbid  !  Our  bark  is  staunch  enough,  no  doubt,  and 
my  only  regret  is  that  of  keeping  the  ladies  in  the  night  air ;  but 
we  must  wait,  perforce,  the  pleasure  of  the  elements." 

The  conversation  grew  general,  and,  thus  encouraged,  voices 
from  the  Ariadne  emulated  the  example.  But  in  a  few  minutes 
longer  a  far  brighter  flash  of  lightning  blinded  all  eyes,  succeed 
ed  by  a  heavy  crash  of  thunder,  while  a  long  low  wail  of  wind 
quickly  followed  the  explosion,  giving  menace  of  its  speedy  ap 
proach.  Upon  this,  all  the  speakers  were  silent  again.  Marian, 
indeed,  whispered : 

"  Do  you  think  there  is  any  danger  ?" 

And  Hugh,  with  a  brave  memory  in  his  heart,  replied,  "  And 
if  there  should  be,  I  can  answer  for  one  woman  not  to  fear  it, 
whatever  may  be  said  of  the  men  !" 

A  great  rush  of  wind  was  close  at  hand,  and  a  sharp  shout 
from  the  Ariadne  was  echoed  back  from  the  Sylphide,  as  from 
the  same  voice.  "Stand  by  the  halyards!"  from  the  skippers, 


424  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

and  "Ay,  ay,  sir!"  from  the  tiny  crews,  sounded  strangely  to 
most  other  ears  ;  but  the  precaution  was  quite  necessary,  for  in 
an  instant  the  squall  was  upon  them,  bowing  both  the  light  craft 
nearly  to  their  gunwales,  and  straining  their  scanty  sails  almost 
to  bursting. 

"If  this  capful  only  holds  as  'tis,  sir,"  said  John  Brime,  as, 
clenching  the  tiller  of  the  Ariadne  in  his  brawny  hands,  he  care 
fully  humored  the  gallant  little  craft  through  the  blinding  strain 
of  the  squall,  "  'twill  sweep  us  clear  by  Lafayette  in  less  than  a 
jiffey.  We  won't  let  go  nuthin'  till  it  pipes  up  higher  than 
this." 

Both  boats  behaved  very  well,  and  stood  up  sturdily  after  the 
first  onset  of  the  blast,  which  was  now  driving  them  at  a  furious 
rate  through  the  water.  As  had  been  expected,  the  Ariadne 
took  and  kept  the  lead,  although  of  course  all  idea  of  racing  was 
now  banished  from  the  minds  of  both  parties  of  passengers.  In 
an  incredibly  short .  space  the  yachts  had  traversed  most  of  the 
stretch  which  had  lain  between  them  and  the  coast  of  Long 
Island ;  but,  in  order  to  get  through  the  Narrows,  and  pass  to 
the  westward  of  Fort  Lafayette,  it  was  evidently  necessary  to 
tack.  The  wind,  blowing  with  great  violence  as  it  was,  had 
shifted  one  or  two  points  ahead,  and  so  suddenly  that  it  was 
only  obvious  at  the  last  moment  that  the  manoeuvre  in  question 
was  not  only  unavoidable,  but  must  be  executed  under  rather 
critical  circumstances. 

Not  far  in  the  wake  of  the  Ariadne  flew  onward  her  consort, 
and  perhaps  it  was  well  that,  at  the  moment  the  former  went 
round  like  a  top,  as  her  prow  was  driven  into  the  wind,  a  series 
of  brilliant  flashes  lit  up  the  scene,  although  the  volleying  thun 
der  which  ensued  drowned  the  voices  which  essayed  to  shout 
their  orders.  Still  the  task  to  be  performed  was  so  manifest  to 
the  three  or  four  skillful  tars  who  worked  the  Sylphide  that  no 
harm  was  done,  and  her  helm  was*down  and  her  sails  shivering 
in  the  wind  directly  after  her  leader's. 

But  in  the  interval  a  piercing,  an  appalling  cry  rang  in  the 
ears  of  those  on  the  deck  of  the  hindmost  vessel.  When  it 
ceased,  the  Ariadne  was  on  the  other  tack  and  flying  like  an 
arrow  from  the  spot  she  had  filled  an  instant  before.  It  had 
burst  forth  at  the  moment  the  great  boom  of  her  mainsail  had 
swung  with  a  crash  to  the  larboard.  Marian  Rooke  heard  in 
that  cry  another  which  mingled  with  it — a  wild,  despairing  cry 
of  "Edith!  Edith!"  which  came  down  on  the  gale  and  was 
swallowed  in  the  darkness.  She  saw,  too,  by  the  vivid  gleam 
of  the  lightning,  a  crimson  mass  floating  away  to  leeward  on  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  425 

crest  of  the  rushing  billows ;  and  she  saw,  the  next  instant,  that 
Hugh  Gifford  had  left  her  side,  and  plunged  straight  into  the 
sea. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

IT  was  some  moments  before  either  of  the  yachts  could  be  so 
far  controlled  by  the  frantic  efforts  of  their  crews  as  to  retrace 
the  path  they  had  so  swiftly  described  just  before.  The  race 
was  now  for  a  graver  stake,  however,  than  any  on  board  had 
contemplated  when  they  set  sail  that  sultry  morning,  and  their 
exertions  were  commensurate  with  its  dreadful  importance. 

It  was  some  moments,  although  it  seemed  an  age  to  those 
most  interested  in  the  result,  before  the  Sylphide  could  make 
her  way  back  to  the  spot  where  Gifford  had  leaped  into  the 
foaming  waters  ;  and,  when  she  did  so,  the  last-ebbing  tide, 
pressed  turnultously  by  a  gale  which  now  blew  directly  down 
the  channel,  had  carried  the  objects  of  her  search  some  distance 
out  to  sea. 

Battling  desperately  with  the  waves,  Gifford  had  made  his 
way  to  the  crimson  guide  which  fortunately  made  Edith's  posi 
tion  so  conspicuous  even  in  the  obscurity,  that  it  was  not  diffi 
cult  to  find  her.  Time  courses  with  awful  speed  in  these  cases. 
3Iany  a  poor  wretch  has  drowned  in  the  space  inevitably  taken 
in  putting  about  the  ship  whence  he  had  fallen.  The  yachts, 
however,  were  handy,  and  despite  the  resistance  of  the  elements, 
they  fought  their  way  quickly  to  the  rescue.  Presently  the 
whole  scene  was  illumined  by  blue  lights  burning  from  both  their 
decks,  feeble  competitors  with  the  flashes  of  lightning  indeed, 
but  more  steady.  And  now  two  life-preservers  are  within  Hugh's 
reach,  lashed  to  lines  running  from  the  Sylphide's  taffrail  as  she 
hurtles  by.  Again  she  is  thrown  into  the  wind  ;  he  has  made 
one  of  the  buoyant  rings  fast  under  Edith's  arms,  and  in  a  few 
moments  more  both  are  drawn  in  safety  over  the  bulwarks. 

Edith  was  quite  senseless.  The  gun,  the  rocket,  and  the  glad 
cheer  which  outrang  for  an  instant  the  howl  of  the  wind,  and  told 
her  brother  of  her  rescue,  conveyed  no  sound  to  her  ears.  But 
she  was  living,  breathing ;  of  that  there  could  b  e  no  doubt.  "  In 
tender  hands  of  those  of  her  own  sex,  and  with  proper  restora 
tives,  applied  in  the  comfortable  cabin,  she  would  soon  recover. " 
said  Eldon  Clyde  ;  and  he  said  truly.  As  for  Hugh,  he  was 


426  MAKIAN   BOOKE  J     OR, 

quite  self-possessed,  although  greatly  exhausted  $  and  dry  clothes 
and  a  little  hot  brandy  and  water  would  doubtless  be  all-sufficient 
to  remedy  any  ill  effects  from  his  bath. 

Congratulations  flew  thick  and  fast  at  so  happy  an  ending  to 
the  adventure  ;  and  as,  in  a  briefer  space  than  the  whole  had 
taken,  both  schooners  were  laid  on  the  other  tack,  and  with  a 
short  stretch  attained  the  comparatively  smooth  surface  of  the  in 
ner  bay,  while  Clinton's  anxious  hails  had  received  the  most  re 
assuring  and  satisfactory  replies,  there  really  seemed  only  room 
for  unmingled  joy. 

And  yet  this  joy  was  dashed  with  bitterness  ;  an  affair  which, 
promising  as  it  did  to  end  in  a  terrible  catastrophe,  and  ren 
dered  apparently  harmless  by  an  act  of  promptness  and  courage, 
was  yet  destined  to  evolve  results  fraught  with  pain  to  several  of 
the  personages  of  our  story  ;  for  it  led  to  an  incident,  which, 
however  induced  by  a  train  of  most  natural  circumstances,  was 
yet  of  a  character  which  people  in  certain  relations  are  seldom 
persuaded  is  susceptible  of  misconstruction. 

When  Edith  was  drawn  on  board  she  was  carried  directly  into 
the  cabin,  and,  all  unconscious  as  she  was,  laid  upon  a  couch 
near  the  door.  Hither  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  crowded  with 
injudicious  but  natural  solicitude,  while  Marian,  with  a  practical 
good  sense  which  seldom  deserted  her,  had  flown  for  hot  water 
to  the  little  galley  forward,  leaving  the  stewardess,  who  happily 
had  changes  of  her  own,  to  arrange  dry  clothes  as  substitutes 
for  the  drenched  garments  which  the  half-drowned  girl  had  worn. 

In  the  mean  time,  when  one  young  lady  was  supporting  her 
head,  another  striving  to  pour  wine  between  her  pale  lips,  and 
Mr.  Rivingstone  doing  his  best  to  keep  a  space  clear  about  her, 
Edith  suddenly  opened  her  eyes,  and,  in  accents  of  terror, 
shrieked  : 

"He — Hugh!  He  has  saved  me!  He  is  lost  himself! 
Where — where  is  he  ?" 

At  which  Wirt  Pinckney  ran  hastily  to  fetch  Gifford,  and 
thrust  him  streaming  with  salt  water  into  the  anxious  circle  ; 
whereat  Edith,  with  a  scream  of  joy,  cried  : 

"  Safe  !  safe !  Thank  God !  thank  God  I  Dear — dear  Hugh  is 
safe!"  And,  clasping  her  arms  about  his  neck,  she  straightway 
fainted  at  the  moment  that  Marian  entered,  in  time  to  hear  the 
ejaculations  and  to  see  the  accompanying  tableau. 

The  cabin  was  speedily  cleared,  and  our  hero  relieved  from  his 
rather  embarrassing  situation  ;  while  Marian,  tending  Edith  like 
a  sister,  soon  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  her  conscious  and  com 
fortable.  But,  all  engrossed  in  such  feminine  cares  as  she  was, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  427 

and  which  prevented  her  dwelling  for  the  tune  upon  aught  else, 
Marian  felt  she  had  witnessed  what  could  neither  be  explained 
away  nor  forgotten  ;  what,  as  she  believed,  must  have  had  its 
origin  hi  foregone  conclusions,  incompatible  alike  with  Hugh's 
truth  and  her  own  future  happiness. 

Now,  the  explanation  of  the  affair  was  very  simple.  Torture 
could  not  have  wrung  from  Edith  Parapet  those  expressions  of 
fondness  which,  off  her  guard,  unnerved,  shaken  and  dismayed 
as  she  was,  had  only  half  wittingly  escaped  her.  Apprehensions 
lest  her  preserver  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  magnanimity  which 
led  him  to  risk  his  life  to  preserve  her  own,  had  given  birth  to  an 
outburst  which  was  in  truth  as  surprising  to  Gilford  as  it  was  to 
any  one  else  who  heard  it.  But  how  many  women  are  there  who 
would  credit  such  an  explanation  were  it  offered  ?  Marian  was 
resolved  to  seek  none.  She  put  her  own  construction  upon  what 
she  had  witnessed,  and  steeled  herself  in  the  conviction  that  there 
could  absolutely  be  no  other.  Fate  had  decided  that  she  was  to 
stumble  in  good  season  upon  the  evidence  of  her  lover's  duplicity, 
and  had  thus  guarded  her  against  making  shipwreck,  not  only 
of  her  happiness,  but  most  probably  of  his  own. 

For  Edith  was  very  lovely.  No  one  could  look  upon  her, 
even  now,  pale  and  bowed  like  a  broken  lily,  with  the  hauteur 
which  was  so  marked  a  characteristic,  and,  in  her  case,  so  be 
coming  a  one,  all  subdued,  awkwardly  draped  in  unseemly  gar 
ments  as  she  was,  and  not  perceive  that  she  must  be.  under 
favorable  circumstances,  supremely  captivating. 

And  Marian  had  been  subjected  of  late  to  sore  trials.  She 
had  been  condemned  to  hear  in  bitter  silence  reports  which 
were  humiliating  to  her  pride,  fatal  to  her  peace.  In  the  excite 
ment,  the  enthusiasm  of  an  explanation  when  all  his  better  feel 
ings  had  been  roused,  when  every  dear  old  memory  of  the  past 
had  been  evoked  to  awaken  his  imagination  and  buttress  his 
loyalty,  Hugh  had  indeed  denied  the  truth  of  these  reports. 
But  Marian  was  not  without  experience  in  matters  of  the  heart. 
She  had  been  taught  betimes,  "  when  the  blood  burns,  how 
prodigal  the  soul  lends  the  tongue  vows."  How  did  Hugh's 
denial  look  in  the  light  of  what  nad  been  revealed  to  her — in 
the  light  of  Edith's  evidently  not  unsought  or  unreturned  affec 
tion? 

He  was  ambitious  too  ;  and  the  sin  by  which  angels  fell  might 
easily  prove  too  strong  for  the  faith  of  one  whose  youth  had 
been  cankered — embittered — warped  into  reserve,  if  not  into 
double-dealing,  by  early  surroundings  and  misdirections.  The 
temptation  to  ally  himself  with  so  proud  a  family,  as  the  step- 


428  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

ping-stone  to  social  and  political  success,  had  been  too  strong  for 
him,  and  he  had  fallen.  Should  she  judge  harshly?  No,  a 
hundred  times,  no.  His  behavior  might  have  been  unjustifiable, 
nay,  criminal ;  but  he  had  much  to  struggle  withal  in  his  own 
breast  as  well  as  in  the  outer  world,  and  she  knew,  when  she 
first  had  loved  him,  the  imperfections  of  his  character. 

Marian  had  enjoyed  many  hours  of  almost  unalloyed  bliss. 
When  Gifford  and  she  first  met  after  their  separation — when  he 
had  poured  into  her  willing  ear  the  story  so  long  pent  up  in  his 
breast  of  deep  and  passionate  love — when  he  pictured  how  for 
many  a  day  it  had  dwelt  there,  on  the  prairie,  in  the  mines,  when 
she  was  yet  in  his  sight ;  in  all  his  wanderings  by  land  and  sea 
since  they  had  been  parted — she  had  believed,  and  believed  with 
a  rush  of  happiness  that  was  almost  unearthly,  in  the  literal 
truth  of  his  protestations.  Why  should  she  not  ?  She  knew 
she  was  beautiful.  It  was  mere  affectation  on  her  part  to  ignore  it. 
She  knew  herself  accomplished;  it  was  a  naked  fact,  which 
whoever  ran  might  read.  She  knew  herself  young  and  attract 
ive  in  a  social  sense  ;  experience  teaches  to  average  intellects  a 
lesson  in  this  wise  not  readily  misconstrued.  Why,  then,  should 
she  not  be  loved"?  Again  and  again  she  asked  herself  this  ques 
tion.  Why  should  not  Hugh  Gifford  love  her  as  dearly  as  he 
swore  he  did  ? 

On  this  day  a  wretched  shiver  came  over  the  girl,  for  an  an 
swer  smote  suddenly  upon  her  mind  which,  strange  to  say,  in 
connection  with  Gifford,  had  never  occurred  to  it  before.  An 
answer  which  was  bound  up  and  interwoven  with  the  most  pain 
ful  recollections  of  her  life,  which  was,  perhaps,  the  cause  why 
it  had  been  hidden  away  in  the  recesses  of  her  memory  only  to 
be  tortured  forth  by  a  calamity  which  brought  something  of  the 
same  burthen  of  sorrow.  This  was  the  secret,  she  began  to  per 
suade  herself,  of  her  lover's  alienation.  He  had  lived  among 
people  of  high  thoughts  of  late — people  of  fastidious  tastes — 
and  they  had  engendered  or  stimulated  in  his  mind  a  prejudice 
which  had  been  absent  or  feeble  before. 

Wandering  like  Nature's  own  children  in  her  luxuriant  forests, 
sitting  side  by  side  on  mossy  banks  which  bordered  her  lakes 
and  streams  of  crystal,  finding  health  and  safety,  and  plenty, 
while  trusting  to  her  and  her  alone  ;  hearing  whispers  and  sug 
gestions  from  her  lips  and  from  no  others  ;  before  the  thirst  for 
gold,  and  the  herding  with  its  worshippers,  had  brought  sophis 
tication  and  littleness,  and  the  taint  of  mean  and  ungenerous 
prejudices, — no  such  thought  as  was  now  in  Marian's  mind 
would  have  arisen  there,  no  such  motive  have  been  attributed  to 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTCNE.  429 

her  lover.  But  as  it  was,  there  must  be  something,  she  reasoned, 
beside  more  obvious  and  selfish  incentives,  something  in  the 
nature  of  a  powerful  stimulus,  to  have  perverted  Gifford  to  false 
hood,  and  worked  in  him  so  great  a  change. 

She  went  quietly  home,  showing  no  mark  of  distrust,  no  sign 
of  disquietude,  but  playing  her  part  on  board  the  yacht  with 
even  and  gracious  propriety  to  the  last,  and  prepared  to  take  a 
step  which  should  be  irrevocable. 

She  wrote  Hugh  a  very  long  letter,  taking  for  its  preparation 
not  one  day,  nor  two,  nor  three.  It  was  a  week,  in  truth,  be 
fore  she  had  finished  it  to  her  mind ;  and  it  was  covered  over 
and  over  with  those  traces  which  time  makes  invisible  to  mortal 
eyes,  but  whereof  the  angels  keep  a  translation  to  be  forever 
tenderly  and  compassionately  remembered.  What  a  love  was 
hers !  So  catholic,  so  deep  ;  it  was  more  than  that  of  a  maiden 
for  her  lover,  for  it  had  something  of  the  holier  love  of  a  mother 
for  her  child ;  a  love  which  survives  the  burning  ardor  of  youth ; 
a  love  which  dies  not  under  unkiudness,  neglect,  or  even  deceit ; 
a  love  as  much  greater  and  nobler  than  common  love  as  it  is 
nobler  and  greater  to  love  the  stained  and  erring  than  it  is  to 
love  the  spotless  and  innocent ;  a  love  which  transcends  human 
love  of  the  ordinary  type  so  strangely,  that  it  may  have  first 
suggested  to  men's  minds  the  character  of  the  divine.  Rarely 
do  we  see  or  know  of  such  love  on  earth,  still  more  rarely  are 
we  its  objects  ;  but  when  we  are,  we  are  supremely  fortunate,  as 
Hugh  Gilford  was,  in  its  enjoyment ;  and  generally  supremely 
blind,  as  he  appeared  to  be,  in  appreciating  what  we  enjoy. 

The  adventure  of  the  yacht  was  of  course  a  nine  days'  won 
der.  Equally  of  course,  the  public  voice  mated  Edith  Parapet 
with  Hugh  Gifford  in  every  direction.  It  was  quite  impossible, 
incredible,  absurd,  that  a  man  should  go  on  in  that  way,  run  a 
great  hazard  to  perform  an  act  of  humanity,  without  being  self 
ishly  interested  beforehand  or  paid  in  one  particular  manner 
afterwards.  It  Avould  be  contrary  to  all  precedent — to  all  romance 
— to  all  public  expectation — and,  consequently,  to  all  decency — 
that  the  matter  should  have  any  other  termination. 

Perhaps  the  stories  which  thus  met  her  on  all  sides  may  have 
had  something  to  do  in  fortifying  Marian's  resolution.  Perhaps 
the  fact  that  she  did  not  see  anything  of  Hugh,  or  hear  any 
thing  of  his  subsequent  actions,  may  have  had  some  effect.  Per 
haps  an  idea  that  there  really  was  a  species  of  poetical  justice  in 
his  marrying  Edith  may  have  had  weight.  But  whatever  the 
mingling  of  motives,  she  faltered  not  in  carrying  out  her  design 
when  she  had  once  determined  upon  it. 


430  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

Her  letter  released  Hugh  entirely  from  his  engagement ;  but 
it  carefully  avoided  allusion  to  the  particular  circumstance  which 
was  the  mainspring  of  her  actions.  She  said  that  matters  had 
changed  very  materially  during  the  months  that  had  passed  since 
their  engagement  was  made.  He  had  new  companions,  new 
pursuits  was  reputed  to  have  grown  very  wealthy ;  and  it  was 
her  wish  that  he  should  have — whatever  change  may  have  taken 
place — the  opportunity  to  act  as  if  he  were  bound  by  no  ties  or 
pledges  whatever.  They  were  both  still  very  young,  and  nothing 
was  more  natural  than  that  they  should  have  mistaken  the  depth, 
the  permanent  character,  of  their  feelings.  Such  was  the  sub 
stance  of  the  first  part  of  her  missive. 

But  more  followed  of  a  grave  and  earnest  nature,  for  Marian 
thought  it  her  duty,  as  she  had  thought  it  of  old,  to  do  what 
she  could  to  aid  Hugh  to  become  better  and  worthier.  She 
pointed  out — and  this  in  a  way  disconnected  with  their  personal 
relations — how  the  acquisition  of  wealth  in  so  short  a  space,  with 
so  little  labor  on  his  part  to  attain  it,  had  worked  unfavorably 
upon  his  character.  How  it  had  weakened  good  resolutions, 
sapped  his  moral  vigor,  opened  the  door  to  petty  temptation, 
subjected  him  to  poisonous  flatteries  from  all  manner  of  vulgar 
and  ignoble  sycophants.  How,  instead  of  devoting  himself  to 
the  noble  tasks  of  regeneration  and  improvement — services  of 
which  his  country  was  so  palpably  and  vastly  in  need — he  had 
merely  gone  floating  on  in  a  paltry  tide  fed  by  the  principle  of 
accepting  wrongs  because  they  exist — of  winking  at  corruption 
instead  of  denouncing  it — of  folding  the  hands  in  indolent  sleep 
when  duty  and  the  talents  God  had  given  demanded  self-sacrifice 
and  laborious  exertion.  Thus  even  in  parting  with  Hugh,  as 
she  thought  for  ever,  the  keen  agony  of  that  parting  only  prompt 
ed  Marian  the  more  to  do  all  that  in  her  lay  to  make  him  a  purer 
and  better  man. 

It  was  a  week  before  the  letter  was  delivered.  During  this 
time  no  one  had  seen  Hugh  with  whom  Marian  came  in  contact. 
After  its  lapse  he  disappeared  altogether  from  society,  and 
vanished  from  the  eye  of  the  world.  Poor  Hugh  !  His  sorrows 
had  come  indeed  not  single  spies,  but  literally  in  battalions.  The 
day  before  Marian's  letter  reached  him,  the  failure  was  announc 
ed,  on  a  colossal  scale,  of  the  great  house  of  Ingott  and  Gollop. 
Already  the  exposure  and  excitement  of  the  adventure  in  the 
bay  had  forced  him  to  take  to  his  bed.  The  accumulation  of  ills 
brought  on  a  raging  fever;  and  involved  as  he  was  for  a  vast 
sum  in  the  misfortune  of  the  insolvents,  he  became  utterly  un- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  431 

able  to  direct  his  affairs,  or  even  to  endeavor  to  save  anything 
from  the  wreck. 

The  sheriff's  officers  were  in  his  house,  while  he  lay  above, 
either  entirely  unconscious,  or  with  occasional  waking  fits  of 
delirium.  The  great  fortune,  with  all  the  accumulations  which 
it  had  gathered,  was  scattered  to  the  winds,  and  its  whilome 
master,  the  pet  of  society,  the  caressed  and  admired  candidate 
for  political  and  social  honors,  was  penniless  and  forsaken.  The 
gold  by  which  he  had  set  so  much  store — the  gold  which  was  to 
be  the  ladder  of  his  renown — the  gold,  in  virtue  of  whose  pos 
session  men  had  been  almost  ready  to  fall  down  and  worship 
him — the  gold  so  carefully  hidden  from  Virginia,  to  build  a  wall 
between  himself  and  Marian — the  gold  so  swiftly  gained  had 
flown  more  swiftly  still,  and  Hugh  Gilford  was  once  more  a 
dreaming  and  houseless  beggar. 


OF  THE.  FOURTH  BOOK. 


432  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 


BOOK   THE    FIFTH 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORY,  it  is  said,  repeats  itself.  However  it  may  be  with 
nations,  most  of  us  can  vouch  that  that  of  individuals  does  so. 
Few  but  are  reminded  almost  every  day  of  their  lives  of  some 
thing  that  has  gone  before.  Sometimes  the  remembrance  is  so 
startling,  that  it  is  hard  to  escape  the  conviction  that  there  exists 
a  subtle  but  vital  connection  between  the  two  sets  of  incidents. 
Such  was  my  reflection  one  quiet  evening  in  October,  when  I 
found  myself  on  horseback  winding  down  a  series  of  low  hills, 
which  trend  towards  Long  Island  Sound,  near  the  point  of  its 
contact  with  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Connecticut. 

I  seemed  to  be  living  over  again  the  self-same  evening  which 
had  found  me  three  years  before  descending  the  hills  into  the 
valley  of  Armstrong's  Bar.  Now  there  were  a  great  many 
strongly-marked  points  of  difference  between  the  two  occasions. 
The  former  was  in  spring,  this  was  in  autumn.  In  one  case,  the 
air  smelt  strongly  of  the  sea ;  in  the  other,  I  was  many  a  league 
from  blue  water.  That  was  in  the  extreme  west  of  the  conti 
nent,  this  in  the  extreme  east.  The  first  was  the  land  of  gold 
and  license,  the  last  the  land  of  husbandry  and  rigor.  Where, 
then,  was  the  resemblance  ?  In  what  lay  the  force  of  the  asso 
ciation  ? 

Truly,  not  in  place,  season,  or,  least  of  all,  in  coloring. 
Well  I  remember  that  vivid  green,  so  like  the  tropical  glare, 
which  drenching,  long-continued  rains  had  clothed  earth  and 
trees  withal  about  the  Bar.  The  coloring  around  me  now  was 
such  as  is  almost  indescribable,  except  for  such  as  have  seen  it ; 
but  those  who  have  not  may  gain  some  idea  by  imagining  that 
countless  rainbows  had  fallen  from  the  skies,  and  steeped  the 
forests  in  all  directions  with  glorious  dyes,  which  lost  their  eva- 


THE  QUEST  FOK  FORTUNE.  433 

nescence,  and  became  fixed  in  the  process.  It  was  the  most  lovely 
period  of  the  American  autumn ;  but  with  all  its  gorgeousness, 
there  was  a  sobriety  befitting  the  maturity  of  the  year,  far  dif 
ferent  from  the  callow  and  upstart  youth  of  the  Californian 
spring. 

But  we  are  too  far  on  our  journey  to  linger  by  the  way  to  des 
cant  on  its  scenery.  Let  me  eschew  negatives  and  divergences, 
and  say  at  once  why  the  two  occasions  were  so  strangely  alike — 
reminded  me  so  irresistibly  of  each  other. 

It  was  a  soft,  breezeless  evening  then ;  I  was  riding  slowly 
down  those  graduated  slopes  which  suggest  the  neighborhood 
of  some  great  water-course ;  my  path  was  bordered  and  arched 
with  foliage  of  the  densest  description,  and  suddenly,  seated 
upon  a  log,  I  came  upon  two  men. 

The  instant  I  saw  them  the  past  three  years  seemed  altogether 
a  dream.  I  was  again  in  a  Mexican  saddle,  weary  with  a  four 
days'  journey  from  Marysville,  armed  with  revolver  and  bowie- 
knife,  and  with  papers  in  my  saddle-bags  showing  a  legal  title 
to  fifteen  leagues  of  territory,  covering  what  was  called  Arm 
strong's  Bar.  I  was  again  to  be  greeted,  first  surlily,  then  hos 
pitably,  and  invited  to  a  queer-looking  cabin,  far  down  in  the 
valley,  which  boasted  a  cotton  roof,  and  such  strangely-jumbled 
inhabitants.  I  was  again  to  hear  the  melodious  contralto  of  the 
tall,  dark  girl,  whom  those  inhabitants  would  call  Mary  Anne. 
Once  more  I  should  receive  the  uncouth  but  kindly  attentions 
of  the  Armstrongs  ;  h'sten  to  the  brusque  criticisms  and  enco 
miums  of  the  rough  Scotch  doctor ;  gaze  furtively  at  the  sad  and 
thoughtful  face  of  the  young  New  Englander,  who  sat  so  moodily 
alone  in  the  corner.  Once  more  I  should  be  an  amused  witness 
of  the  conversations  and  opinions  of  the  editor  of  the  "Moun 
tain  Clarion";  once  more  marvel  at  the  quaint  follies,  the  min 
gling  of  scraps  of  wisdom  and  painful  puerility  which  came  from 
the  witling  Ike,  with  Ms  shock  of  red  hair,  and  his  extravagant 
shreds  and  patches  of  finery ;  marvelling  but  for  a  brief  space, 
however,  as  it  soon  became  evident  enough  what  was  the  secret 
of  the  poor  fellow's  vagaries  ;  once  more  I  should  see  the  great 
dog  leap  up  and  pull  down  the  latch;  once  more  hear  his  joyous 
bark  and 

Yet  no !  The  charm  was  broken — the  illusion  was  dispelled — 
the  absence  of  this  one  sound  it  was  that  made  the  difference 
between  now  and  then !  Not  spring  or  autumn,  east  or  west, 
changes  in  colors,  time,  or  odors  made  the  real  difference !  It 
was  the  absence  of  that  deep,  well-remembered  bay  of  Lion  1 
There  sat  Dick  Railes  and  Ike  upon  the  log  as  of  yore ;  but  the 
19 


434  MARIAN   BOOKE;    OK, 

dog,  with  his  ringing  bark,  was  gone,  and  in  a  moment  my 
wandering  imagination  was  at  one  with  facts  again,  and  the  past 
was  gone  for  ever ! 

I  was  merely  going  to  see  the  Armstrongs,  and  some  others, 
at  the  ancestral  homestead  near  Old  Saybrook,  partly  for  friend 
ship's  sake,  partly  for  business  connected  with  Armstrong's  Bar. 
They  had  acquired  a  title  there,  which,  for  a  consideration,  was  to 
be  extinguished,  and  my  old  employers  were  to  establish  their 
claim.  This  was  all.  Not  because  of  a  desire  to  avail  of  a  facti 
tious  appearance  of  authenticity,  but  merely  for  truth's  sake,  I 
lead  the  reader  here  to  receive  his  last  impressions  of  those 
whose  acquaintance  he  has  made,  and  in  whom,  it  may  be  trusted, 
his  chief  interest  may  be  centred.  After  which,  in  accordance 
with  a  not-forgotten  promise,  the  individuality  of  the  writer  is 
withdrawn,  to  traverse  the  course  of  his  story  no  more. 

Let  us  go  through  the  dense,  arching  woods  with  our  guides 
—who  have  been  long  expecting  us — and  find  out  what  we  can 
of  our  old  friends  and  acquaintances. 

Of  all  the  many  charming  old  places  which  grace  the  swelling 
line  of  the  Sound,  there  is  none  more  so  to  certain  eyes  than  Old 
Saybrook.  To  eyes  which  love  to  rest  upon  old  trees,  old  houses, 
old  roads ;  to  find  in  daily  walks  and  drives  the  proof  that  its 
inhabitants  regard  their  town,  such  as  it  is,  as  finished;  to  see 
evidences  of  that  which  is  so  rare  in  American  towns — of  re 
pose  ;  to  such  eyes  Old  Saybrook  is  charming  indeed. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  village  is  the  ancient  Arm 
strong  homestead.  Two  hundred  solid  acres  had  Seth  repur 
chased  which  an  Armstrong  once  had  held,  as  far  back  as  the 
time  when  the  place  got  its  name,  from  a  Say  and  Sele.  You 
can  find  the  name,  nearly  obliterated  by  weather  and  time,  on 
many  an  old  tombstone  in  the  churchyard  hard  by,  and  in  village 
archives  there  is  matter  enough,  if  need  be,  to  trace  an  ample 
genealogical  record  of  the  family. 

The  house  was  very  large  and  very  old.  But,  like  many  old 
things,  there  was  substance  enough  in  it  to  build  half  a  dozen  new 
ones  ;  and  the  barns  and  other  out-buildings  corresponded  with 
the  house.  When  the  Armstrongs  came  back  rich  from  Califor 
nia,  and  bought  the  place  back  into  the  family  again,  the  build 
ings  certainly  looked  rather  shabby  and  unpromising  ;  and  pretty 
Kitty,  when  she  first  saw  the  house, bit  her  lip  with  vexation.  True, 
she  was  to  be  Mrs.  Railes  at  midsummer  ;  but,  as  is  the  fashion 
with  some  American  families,  they  were  all  to  live  under  one 
roof.  Seth  could  not  bear,  after  what  they  had  passed  through 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  435 

together,  to  have  the  household  separated,  and  Dick  was  nothing 
loth  to  fall  in  with  the  old  man's  wish.  They  came  to  New  York 
in  May,  and,  as  the  purchase  had  been  negotiated  through  an 
agent  some  time  before,  they  moved  into  then'  new-old  posses 
sion  soon  after.  But  it  was  a  house  which  none  of  the  villagers 
who  knew  it  best  could  have  recognized  by  October.  What  with  a 
verandah  running  round  the  whole  building,  and  all  manner  of 
rustic  porches  and  entrances,  flanked  by  rustic  seats  ;  what  with 
fresh  paint — which  Luke,  who  had  actually  been  reading  John 
Ruskin  among  other  recondite  authors,  happily  prevented  from 
being  of  an  implacable,  staring  white — and  a  world  of  clambering 
vines,  the  Armstrong  mansion  became  a  very  tasteful-looking  as 
well  as  comfortable  abode. 

It  was  a  dear  old  home  !  With  rolling  meadows  and  chang 
ing  woods  to  be  seen  from  its  windows  for  many  a  mile  ;  with 
the  silvery  Connecticut  widening  away  to  the  northward,  and  on 
the  south  the  great  ocean-like  Sound  glittering  with  a  scarcely 
less  "innumerable  smile." 

No  wonder  Doctor  Landalejfell  in  love  with  the  place,  and 
bought  what  he  styled  a  ram-shackle,  tumble-down  old  house  in 
the  village.  He  was  laughed  at  a  good  deal  by  those  who  knew 
how  he  was  wont  to  growl  at  America,  her  boasting  and  swag 
gering,  and  her  universal  suffrage.  But  at  first  he  said  be  bought 
only  as  an  investment.  The  spot  was  near  New  York,  which 
must  become  a  prodigiously  huge  city,  and  all  watering-places  in 
its  vicinity  would  then  be  valuable.  Afterwards  he  averred,  that 
although  he  had  by  no  means  given  up  his  idea  of  a  cottage  on 
the  Clyde,  yet  the  air  of  Connecticut  agreed  with  him,  and  he 
would  stay  a  year  or  two  to  settle  his  constitution.  Finally,  he 
declared — this  was  more  recently — that  he  found  he  could  do 
good  in  America,  and  that  the  people  were  more  disposed  than 
formerly  to  be  done  good  to  ;  so  that,  in  short,  he  would  stay 
among  them  a  little  longer. 

Habit,  indeed,  does  much,  and  the  doctor  is  not  the  only  one 
who  has  learned  by  experience,  which  is  better  than  books,  that 
men  are  neither  so  culpable  nor  so  meritorious  as  most  of  the 
world  would  have  them,  for  qualities  which  spring  from  circum 
stances  which  they  had  no  share  in  arranging,  and  wherein 
other  men  would  be  much  the  same  as  themselves.  But  the  doc 
tor  really  did  good  in  his  way,  and  to  no  one  did  he  do  more 
good  than  to  poor  Hugh  Gifford. 

It  so  happened  that  the  party  arrived  in  New  York  just  at  the 
season  of  our  hero's  misfortunes.  There  was  no  need  of  consul 
tation  among  themselves  after  the  doctors  agreed  that  he  might 


436  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

be  safely  removed,  and  Hugh  was  taken  by  railway,  passive  and 
half-conscious  as  he  was,  and  comfortably  bestowed  among  kind 
friends  in  the  old  farm-house.  His  fortune  was  utterly  swept 
away.  If  it  had  not  been,  we  may  mention,  entre  nous,  that  In- 
gott  and  Gollop  would  have  been  quite  unable  to  go  into  that 
great  street-cleaning  contract  which  they  secured  about  nine 
months  afterwards. 

But  fortune  mattered  little  in  his  present  condition  ;  for  he 
was  attacked  by  an  illness  so  violent  and  so  prostrating,  that  for 
many  weeks  life  just  trembled  in  the  balance.  The  sweet,  whole 
some  country  air,  unremitting  watchfulness,  youth,  and  latterly 
a  ray  of  hope,  perhaps,  brought  him  ultimately  through.  But  all 
summer  long,  Hugh  lay  on  a  couch  where  he  suffered  first  long- 
continued  delirium,  and  afterwards  more  protracted  and  racking 
pain. 

He  did  not  suffer  for  want  of  gentle  attendants  of  both  sexes. 
Of  others,  more  hereafter  ;  but  there  was  one  whose  care  and 
tenderness  were  rather  like  those  of  a  woman  than  a  man  ;  who 
could  never  watch  enough,  do  enough  to  minister  to  his  comfort, 
to  increase  the  chances  of  his  recovery.  Through  all  the  long 
wearying  nights,  when  Hugh's  state  was  most  critical,  Luke 
Armstrong  was  by  his  side ;  and  when,  little  by  little,  mind  and 
body  began  to  regain  their  tone,  who  but  Luke  cheered  him, 
nursed  him,  read  to  him — when  books  were  forbidden,  save  at 
second  hand,  went  long  journeys  to  fetch  him  fruit,  or  other  del 
icacies,  whichthe  system,  jaded  by  fierce  attacks  of  fever,  craved 
in  the  course  of  its  slow  rcaetion. 

Certainly  no  woman  could  have  been  more  watchful  or  delicate 
in  offices  which  belong  to  woman's  own  vocation.  Perhaps  Luke 
felt  himself  in  the  position  of  a  legate  or  deputy,  and  his  con 
scientiousness  was  on  the  alert  to  omit  nothing  his  principal 
would  have  wished  done. 

"  I  am  giving  you  sad  trouble,"  said  Hugh,  faintly,  one  balmy 
evening  in  August.  Luke  had  pushed  back  the  white  curtains 
of  a  window  opposite  the  sofa  where  the  invalid  lay,  and  there 
came  wandering  into  the  room  all  manner  of  delicate  scents  of 
jessamine  and  honeysuckle.  "  Trouble  to  all,  but  most  to  you, 
Luke." 

"  Trouble,  Mr.  Gifiord.  Trouble,  to  take  care  of  you.  What 
a  word !" 

"  Call  rne  Hugh ;  I  call  you  Luke.  " 

"Well,  Hugh,  then;  although  it  never  seems  quite  natural, 
like. " 

"Why?" 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  437 

,  you  know,  you  are  educated — a  gentleman,  and  we 
are  only  poor  farmers.  It  is  not  natural,  even  in  a  republic,  for 
us  to  be  exactly  like  equals." 

The  room  opened  into  another  beyond,  and  through  the  door 
Hugh's  eye  rested  upon  many  well-filled  book-shelves.  It  was 
Luke's  library ;  and  a  very  good  library  too.  More  of  history 
and  science  than  of  the  classics  perhaps ;  yet  still  a  very  good 
library.  Then  Hugh's  eye  wandered  back  to  the  owner's  face. 
It  was  much  more  thoughtful  than  formerly.  The  brow  seemed 
positively  to  have  risen  in  these  three  years.  But  all  the  old 
kindliness  was  there.  The  head  had  not  gained  at  the  expense 
of  the  heart.  The  love  which  had  been  so  sweet,  which  had 
been  so  bitterly  disappointed,  had  exalted  and  ennobled  a  nature 
which  was  of  that  rare  type  that  defeated  love,  or  vanity  if  we 
will,  cannot  force  to  grow  downwards  or  to  become  distorted. 
Luke  was  surely  a  gentleman,  if  any  of  earth's  delvers  could 
ever  be  such,  and  so  thought  Gifford  as  he  gazed. 

"  You  have  studied,  read  a  great  deal  in  thece  years,  Luke. 
I've  no  right  to  claim  superiority  as  to  book  learning.  And  as 
to  money,  you  are  independent  now,  whilst  I — I  am  very,  very 
poor." 

"  So  far  as  the  money  goes,"  said  Luke,  "  nearly  every  dollar 
we  have  came  from  Lionsdale.  But  for  you  we  should  never 
have  had  it.  So  we're  even  there.  Often  since  you  have  been 
sick  has  father  said — not  that  any  of  us  needed  to  be  reminded 
of  it — that  part  of  the  money  by  good  rights  was  yours,  and  we 
ought,  when  you  got  well,  to  pay  it  to  you." 

"That's  nonsense — absurd.  I  wouldn't  listen  to  it — not  for 
a  moment.  If  any  one  has  a  right  of  discovery,  it  is  poor  Ike. 
Strange,"  added  Hugh,  feebly.  "I've  had  such  queer  fan 
cies  since  I've  been  ill.  I  thought — or  did  I  dream  it  ? — that 
Ike  was  no  longer  weak-minded — no  longer  silly ;  that  he  had 
marvellously  recovered,  and  grown  quite  sane." 

'•  There  has  been  a  great  change  in  him,  and  there's  no  dream 
in  that,"  replied  Luke  ;  "  but  I'll  tell  you  all  about  it  when  you're 
stronger.  The  doctor — and  he's  more  cranky  and  despotic  than 
ever,  as  you  can  see — says  you're  not  to  talk  about  exciting 
things ;  you're  to  be  kept  quiet,  and  soothed." 

"At  all  events,"  said  Gifford  with  a  smile,  "there's  no  reason 
why  you  shouldn't  call  me  Hugh." 

"I  will,  since  you  wish  it.     But — as  we  have  spoken  of  such 
things — there's  a  difference  between  us,  besides  those  of  read 
ing  and  dollars,  after  all." 
"A  difference?" 


438  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

"  Yes,  there  t's  a  difference  in  man  that  democracy  ignores,  but 
which,  I  take  it,  all  philosophers  have  to  take  into  account.  It 
wouldn't  do  in  America,  I  suppose,  to  call  it  'blood;'  but  there's 
a  difference,  call  it  what  you  will." 

"  If  there  is,"  said  Hugh,  bitterly,  "  it's  a  pity  it  has  not  made 
me  a  better  man.  Why,  Luke,  you  are  a  hundredfold  worthier 
and  better  than  I  am !" 

"Hush!     You  musn't  say  so." 

"But  I  will — because  it's  true.  Would  you  have  misused 
advantages  as  I  have  ?  Having  fortune,  some  talent,  health,  and, 
more  than  all,  the  love  of  the  purest,  loveliest  being  that  ever 
breathed  ;  would  you,  possessing  these,  have  cast  them  all  from 
you  like  toys,  merely  through  the  indulgence  of  a  contemptible 
indolence — a  miserable  vanity  !  Would  you  have  sacrificed,  as 
I  have,  fortune,  honorable  ambition,  a  holy  love,  for  mere  self 
ish  egotism?  That  love,  more  priceless  than  all  else  beside, 
would  you  have  cast  it  from  you,  outraged  and  humiliated? 
Would  you " 

"Stop!"  interrupted  Luke,  and  a  feminine  blush  rose  over  his 
sunburnt  face  into  the  paler  forehead.  "  Stop,  Hugh !  don't  say 
you  have  ill-treated Marian?" 

The  name  came  with  difficulty  from  his  lips,  and  when  it 
passed  them  it  was  with  a  lingering  softness,  as  if  he  feared, 
when  he  let  it  go  forth,  that  something  might  happen  even  to 
the  name. 

Hugh  looked  confused.  His  head  was  weak  yet,  and  he  had 
scarcely  thought,  in  saying  what  he  did,  whether  his  companion 
had  any  knowledge  of  the  events  of  the  past  year  or  not. 

"Why,  didn't  you  know,  Luke,  that  we — were " 

"Engaged?  Yes.  The  doctor  read  his  letter  to  us — most 
of  it.  That  was  in  it.  I — I  was  glad  of  it.  I  knew — you  re 
member  what  I  told  you? — that  it  would  make  her  happy.  And 
I  could  not  doubt  she  would  make  you  so." 

' '  Who  could  ?  Heaven  forgive  me  ;  who  could  ?  But  it  is 
all  over  now." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say " 

"  That  our  engagement  is  over — broken  off — yes." 

Luke  said  nothing  for  some  time,  but  sat  looking  straight 
out  of  the  window  at  the  blue  sky.  Had  he  ho  inkling  of  this  ? 
Perhaps ;  but  no  certainty.  Presently  he  spoke  : 

"  And  you  treated  her  badly,  then  ?" 

"  Very,  as  I  now  think.  I  didn't  think  so  at  the  time.  I  was 
bewildered — dazzled — like  one  in  a  dream.  But  surely,"  he 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  439 

said,   suddenly,   "surely  you  must   have  heard  something  of 
this?" 

Luke's  face  reddened  again.  "  I  don't  think  this  talk  is  quite 
good  for  you,"  he  said;  " but  when  you  ask  me  that,  I  don't 
Uke  to  keep  back  the  truth.  While  you've  been  sick  you've 
gone  on  much  in  this  way — in  self-reproach,  like — declaring  you 
had  ill-used  her,  and  destroyed  your  own  happiness.  But  I 
thought  it  was  the  fever,  and  Doctor  Landale  said  people  often 
went  on  and  talked  in  contraries  about  their  affairs  in  delirium, 
something  as  drunken  folks  abuse  those  they  love  best.  So  I 
took  no  notice,  or  as  little  as  I  could  ;  but  I  never  dreamed  it  pos 
sible  that  you  could  have  treated  her  badly  !" 

"  Xonc  but  a  villain — a  cold-hearted,  selfish  villain — could 
have  done  so.  Don't  mistake  ;  I  committed  no  direct — no 
flagrant  outrage.  To  have  done  so  would  have  been  less  cruel 
if  more  unmanly.  I  persuaded  her  to  tie  herself  to  me,  and 
then  neglected  her ;  placed  her  in  the  humiliating  position  of 
being  regarded  by  the  world  as  slighted  for  another — for 
another,  brilliant  hi  the  eye  of  fashion,  and  rich  in  the  world's 
homage ;  left  her  to  believe  herself  supplanted—  likely  to  be 
altogether  abandoned  by  a  paltry  trifler  to  whom  she  had  given 
her  love,  but  who  was  not  worthy  even  to  kiss  the  hem  of  her 
garment." 

"  But  you  loved  her — always — still  ?" 

1 '  As  I  do  now ;  as  I  love  my  own  soul !  Sometimes  I  think 
better,  since  my  senses  have  returned,  and  I  feel  the  whole  ex 
tent,  the  supreme  wretchedness  of  my  loss.  Alas  I  I  have  not 
even  the  consolation  of  thinking  it  undeserved.  Ah.  Luke ! 
what  I  said  is  true ;  you  are — and  were — worthier  a  hundred 
fold  than  I.  a  hundredfold  better  worth  the  priceless  treasure  of 
such  a  woman's  love!" 

"  No  more  of  this,"  said  Luke,  hurriedly ;  "  you've  talked 
already  more,  far  more  than  is  good  for  you.  Try  and  sleep  for 
a  while ;  the  doctor  said  you  were  to  fall  asleep  before  sundown. 
I'll  come  and  read  to  you  by-and-by,  as  usual." 

*>  Thank  you,  Luke ;  you  are  too  good — too  kind — far  more  so 
than  I  deserve."  His  voice  was  weak  and  hoarse;  ho  had  indeed 
talked  over  much,  and  with  undue  excitement.  A  crimson  spot 
was  in  the  middle  of  each  cheek,  and  the  eye  which  had  been  so 
dull  was  in  a  brilliant  flame. 

Luke  darkened  the  room,  gravely  wet  a  handkerchief  with 
some  cool  essence,  adjusted  the  sick  man's  pillows,  and  went 
softly  away. 

Not  far  from  the  house  was  a  grove  of  stately  young  pines, — 


440  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

a  cool,  shady  retreat,  with  the  smooth,  dry,  brown  carpet  those 
trees  are  wont  to  spread,  covering  the  earth  at  their  feet.  Here 
Luke  had  set  up  a  sort  of  altar  ;  a  rustic  bench  only,  just  like 
what  he  had  made  for  Marian  on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  near 
Armstrong's  Bar.  He  took  a  strange  pleasure  in  making  divers 
little  nooks  and  crannies  about  the  homestead  look  like  the 
former  home  in  California.  He  liked  to  reproduce  the  same  lit 
tle  conveniences;  to  erect  them  where  they  would  afford  as 
nearly  as  possible  the  same  views ;  to  plant  flowers  that  would 
diffuse  the  same  odors  with  those  at  the  Bar.  That  there  was  a 
tinge  of  melancholy  in  this  did  not  make  him  the  less  enjoy  it ; 
nor  was  it  exclusively  the  memory  of  a  cherished  love  which 
prompted  his  action.  The  innate  refinement  of  his  nature  had 
received  from  the  presence  and  handiwork  of  Marian  its  first 
strong  impulse  to  growth  and  development;  whatever,  then, 
was  associated  with  that  auspicious  period,  either  in  sense  or 
spirit,  he  strove  to  re-create  around  him.  He  came  now  to  this 
rustic  bench  in  the  pine  grove,  and,  casting  himself  at  full  length 
upon  it,  he  looked  up  at  the  deepening  blue  of  the  skies,  and 
thought.  And  the  deepening  blue  gave  place  to  a  dusky  gray, 
and  that,  after  a  while,  to  a  deeper  blue  than  before,  and  the  stars 
came  out  one  by  one,  and  looked  down  inquiringly  at  him ;  and 
still  Luke  lay  stretched  upon  the  bench,  staring  up  at  the  zenith, 
but  buried  all  the  time  in  profound  meditation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

tkl  didn't  think,"  said  Seth  Armstrong,  as  he  sat  smoking  his 
pipe  in  the  piazza,  and  gazing  forth  on  the  fair  expanse  of  roll 
ing  meadows  before  him,  "  I  didn't  think  to  own  the  old  Arm 
strong  Farm  afore  I  died.  When  I  went  off  West  as  a  young 
man,  I  reckoned  it  made  no  great  odds  where  folks  lived  or 
where  they  died,  so  long's  grain  was  cheap  and  land  plenty ;  and 
I  kept  on  a  thinkin'  so  for  a  good  many  year.  But  now,  now  I 
ketch  myself  wonderin'  every  day  how  people  can  find  it  in 
their  hearts  to  leave  the  sile  they  was  born  and  bred  on ;  how 
they  can  bear  the  idee  of  laying  down  to  rest  anywheres  except 
among  their  fathers." 

"Humph!"  grunted  the  doctor,  who  was  playing  apostate  to 
his  own  long-cherished  religion  of  a  cottage  on  the  Clyde. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  441 

"When  you  were  poor  and  had  many  mouths  to  feed,  you  went 
where  nature  was  most  generous  to  help  you,  and  had  no  time 
to  think  of  sentiment  Now  you're  well  off.  with  the  larder 
full,  and  the  granary  running  over,  and  can  amuse  yourself  by 
becoming  poetical." 

"  Fie,  Doctor,"  cried  Luke,  "  are  not  the  poorest  of  your  own 
countrymen  those  who  love  then*  native  land  the  best?" 

"Truly  it's  said  so,"  quoth  the  Doctor,  who  would  have  been 
furious  had  any  one  maintained  the  contrary;  "'but  most  in 
sisted  on  when  they  had  only  Hobson's  choice.  If  they  were 
like  you  Yankees,  with  a  land  of  promise  within  reach — a  Mis 
sissippi  valley  with  no  herring  pond  rolling  between — there 
might  have  been  more  migration  and  less  romance." 

"  It's  nateral,  perhaps,  to  love  the  land  where  you're  prospered 
must,"  mused  Seth,  between  his  whiffs,  "  and  yet  see  how  our 
folks  come  back  when  they've  got  a  little  money,  and  often  when 
they  hain't,  even  from  sech  a  fine  country  as  California.  See 
how  they  come  flutterin'  back  to  nestle  on  these  'ere  barren  Xew 
England  hills,  like  fledglings  coming  home  to  a  mother!" 

"Folks  like  what  they've  been  used  to,"  observed  Mrs.  Arm 
strong,  oracularly,  "  and  if  they  cotton  to  outlandish  ways  for  a 
season  it's  only  for  love  o'  novelty,  and  they  yearn  for  the  home 
made  crust  when  the  gilt  once  wears  off  the  furriii  gingerbread. 
Armstrong's  Bar  was  well  enough,  that  is,  as  it  got  to  be ;  but 
even  there  what  a  sight  of  things  there  was  you  couldn't  have 
for  all  the  gold,  and  flour  at  fifty,  and  bacon  a  dollar  a  pound!" 
And  the  worthy  woman  peered  fondly  over  her  glasses  at  the 
interior  of  the  parlor  close  at  hand ;  an  interior  embarrassed 
with  such  riches  of  china  and  patchwork  that  it  must  have  re 
quired  affection  the  most  profound,  coupled  with  experience  of 
the  lengthiest,  to  cram  all  into  the  same  apartment. 

"  Armstrong's  Bar,"  pronounced  a  sad,  measured  voice  from 
just  within  the  room,  "is  the  pootiest  place  in  the  world. 
Whilst  water  runs  and  grass  grows  we'll  see  no  nicer  place ;  and 
I  love  it — love  it  better  than  any  other  spot  I  ever  trod  on 
besides." 

The  speaker  was  Ike.  Ike,  without  any  fantastic  ornaments, 
in  a  plain  suit  of  blue  homespun,  his  red  hah'  combed  straight 
behind  his  ears,  and  the  old  look — the  strange  eerie  mixture  of 
wiklness,  feebleness,  and  cunning — replaced  by  an  expression  of 
steadfast  sorrow.  The  voice,  too,  had  no  longer  the  querulous, 
self-asserting  ring  it  often  gave  out  of  yore ;  its  tone  was  grave 
and  even,  not  that  of  a  person  entirely  rational,  but  far  nearer 
to  it  than  ever  before. 
19* 


442  MARIAN  RO ORE;   OR, 

"  We're  going  to  make  the  homestead  as  much  like  the  Bar 
as  we  can,  Ike,"  said  Seth,  "for  we  was  all  fond  of  it,  and  don't 
mean  to  forget  bein'  very  happy,  and — arter  all  is  said  and  done 
— very  lucky  there.  I'm  not  quite  so  spry  as  I  was,  but  Luke, 
and  you,  and  Dick  can  jest  fix  things  up  as  ye  like  'em  best,  and 
what  suits  you'll  suit  me." 

He  did  look  a  trifle  older.  A  little  more  grizzle  in  the  hair  ; 
a  little  more  stoop  in  the  shoulders ;  a  deepening  of  the  hardy 
lines  about  the  mouth,  and  the  furrows  athwart  the  brow  ;  but 
the  eye  was  as  gentle  as  on  the  day  when  tears  came  into  it  at 
the  hearing  of  Marian  Rooke's  sad  story — her  appeal  for  aid  and 
protection — and  the  old  accents  of  kindliness  and  considerate- 
ness,  notwithstanding  uncouth  phrases  and  pronunciation,  were 
mellowed  and  more  genial,  if  anything,  through  the  passage  of 
time. 

"  The  river's  wider  and  deeper,"  said  Kitty,  softly,  "  than  the 
stream  at  the  Bar.  We  can't  alter  that.  But  there's  many  a 
walk  and  many  a  view  around  here  that  you  couldn't  tell  apart 
from  them  we  left  behind.  There's  a  little  lake  in  the  wood 
behind  the  Blackberry  Pasture  just  like  the  one  in  the  hills 
where — where  poor  Lion  used  to  bathe — and  Mary  Anne  and 
Mr.  Gifford  used  to  sit  and  watch  him  while  he  brought  things 
out  you  threw  in  the  water." 

A  low  sigh  came  from  Ike,  which  showed  he  was  an  attentive 
listener. 

"And  we've  got  the  same  kind  of  clambering  vines  set  out," 
proceeded  Luke,  as  if  taking  up  in  an  understood  manner  a  con 
solatory  strain,  "  so  that  you  might  shut  your  eyes  anywhere 
about  the  house,  and  not  know  whether  you  were  in  Connecti 
cut  or  California." 

"And  the  seats  you've  fixed  in  the  grove,"  added  Kitty,  "  and 
the  views  to  be  seen  from  them,  are  so  like  the  old  ones  that  I'm 
sure  'twould  puzzle  sharp  eyes  to  tell  the  difference." 

"Cappin'  which,"  struck  in  Dick  Railes  as  an  irresistible 
climax  in  the  way  of  resemblance,  "  the  Doctor  and  me's  goin' 
to  run  a  line  of  levels  with  the  th'odolite,  to  see  if  we  can't 
fetch  water  from  Buttermilk  Creek  to  irrigate  the  south-east 
meadows,  just  for  all  the  world  as  we  flumed  it  over  to  wash 
gold  out  o'  the  Canon." 

"You  see,  Ike,"  added  the  Doctor,  with,  for  him,  an  un 
common  gentleness, — "  you  see.  with  money  enough — and 
we've  all  got  that  now — we  can  change  the  Armstrong  Farm 
into  Armstrong's  Bar  almost  as  easily  as  build  the  flume.  We'll 
have  them  as  like  as  two  peas  in  a  little  while." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  443 

"All  except,"  said  Ike,  tremulously,  "all  except" — he  hesi 
tated,  choked  a  little,  and  then  went  on  hastily  but  steadily, 
"This  I  know — though  there's  some  bad  ones  everywhere — 
there's  as  kind  hearts  on  the  Farm  as  ever  there  was  on  the  Bar." 
He  rose  as  he  ended,  and,  going  down  the  steps  of  the  piazza, 
wandered  away  in  the  twilight. 

Every  one  turned,  and  looked  inquiringly  at  the  Doctor. 
"Better."  he  said,  briefly,   ''better  every  day.     Indeed,  the 
two  seem  to  be  getting  well  together — one  in  body,  the  other  in 
mind.     For  that  matter,  Gifford  had  a  very  long  mental  siege, 
too." 

"Not  altogether,"  inquired  Seth,  "not  entirely  for  the  money's 
sake  ?" 

"Tut,  man,  no.  Only  misers  go  mad  about  their  gold,  and 
the  season  is  generally  gone  by  with  them  for  fevers  such  as 
breed  in  youthful  veins.  'Twas  a  combination  of  causes — 
physical  as  well  as  mental — whose  seeds  were  sown  a  long  time 
back." 

"It's  strange,"  quoth  Seth — "at  least  to  a  man  who's  been 
poor  for  the  most  of  his  days — that  of  all  his  fine  friends,  none 
have  come  or  inquired  for  him  in  his  sickness,  his  misfor 
tune." 

"  Not  strange  at  all,"  contradicted  the  Doctor,  "  if  it  were  so 
— but  it  isn't.  We  left  no  country  address  when  we  moved 
him.  and  any  letters  were  to  go  to  my  own  agents.  I've  got 
several — three  in  the  same  handwriting — but  it  is  not  time  yet 
to  let  him  have  them.  His  affairs  have  been  settled,  or  are  in  the 
course  of  being  settled,  by  the  lawyers.  These  are  not  business 
letters,  or  they  would  have  gone  to  them." 

"Do  you  think  anything  will  be  saved,"  asked  Seth,  "after 
paying  the  claims  against  him?" 

"  I  think  they'll  bring  him  in  in  debt,"  said  the  Doctor, 
coolly;  "they  generally  do  on  the  other  side,  and  I  take  it 
Yankee  lawyers  are  no  honester.  But  what  then  ?  He's  young, 
will  soon  be  as  strong  as  ever,  the  world  is  all  before  him ;  he 
can  take  heart  of  grace  and  try  again." 

"  I  dunno,"  doubted  Seth,  "  naters  is  different.  'Twouldn't 
hurt  my  Luke  now  to  be  a  poor  man  agin  to-morrow.  lie 
never  was  bred  to  expect  to  be  anything  else,  and  'twouldn't 
come  hard  on  him.  But  it  runs  in  my  head  it'll  be  different  with 
Mr.  Gifford." 

"Like  as  if,"  elucidated  Mrs.  Armstrong,  "folks  had  been 
used  allers  to  the  best  things  in  chiny  and  patchwork,  and  would 


444  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

feel  wuss  to  give  'em  up  than  them  'ere  red  Pawnees  who  never 
know'd  what  it  was  to  want  'em." 

"It's  not  the  money  part  of  the  business,"  observed  Luke, 
quietly,  "which  will  discourage  our  friend.  These  letters, 
Doctor, — perhaps  you  know?" 

"  They're  all  in  men's  handwriting,"  said  the  Doctor,  signi 
ficantly,  "  and  none  that  I  can  remember  having  seen  before, 
excepting  this," — and  he  drew  from  his  wallet  a  letter,  which  he 
held  up  in  the  dusky  light  for  inspection.  It  was  a  large,  thick, 
coarse-looking  letter,  addressed  to  Hugh  Gilford,  Esq.,  in  a 
vulgar,  scrawling,  but  very  legible  hand,  and  a  huge  "  private  " 
was  pen -prin ted  on  the  upper  left-hand  corner.  The  packet  was 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  finally  reaching  Mrs.  Armstrong's, 
who  held  it  at  arm's  length  and  glanced  at  it  over  her  spectacles 
for  some  time  with  quivering  suspicion ;  but  no  one  could  guess 
at  the  name  of  the  writer,  and  it  came  back  to  the  Doctor  un 
detected,  so  that  there  was  a  pause  of  expectancy  when  he  re 
placed  the  missive  in  his  wallet. 

"Whatever  my  supposition,"  he  added,  blandly,  noticing  the 
curiosity  he  had  excited,  "  it  is  the  business  of  the  recipient  to 
mention  it — if  he  chooses — and  not  mine." 

"And  whosoever  it  is,"  asserted  Kitty,  positively,  "it's  not 
the  handwriting  which  will  do  Mr.  Gilford's  eyes — or  his  heart 
— good  to  see." 

There  was  a  suspicion  in  the  family  that  something  was  wrong 
respecting  the  engagement  of  GifFord  and  Marian  liooke  ;  but, 
partly  from  a  feeling  for  Luke,  and  partly  from  a  sentiment  of 
delicacy  rare  in  so  untutored  a  circle,  they  had  seldom  touched 
upon  the  subject  during  Hugh's  illness. 

"I  don't  think  it  ought  to  hurt  him,"  continued  Seth,  philoso 
phically,  "  havin'  sech  a  trial  so  early  in  life.  I've  seen  enough 
o'  the  world  to  know  that  what's  lightly  got,  lightly  goes.  A 
man  isn't  a  real  man  till  he's  had  to  buckle  down  and  fight 
fortun'  into  givin'  him  a  fair  show.  The  good  there  is  in  Hugh 
Gilford  weren't  goin'  to  be  fetched  out  by  luck,  but  by  hard 
blows.  And  when  he  gits  strong  agin,  if  he  don't  see  it  in  that 
light,  he  ain't  the  man  I  took  him  for.  But,  settin'  that  aside, 
it's  my  judgment  that  we're  beholden  to  him  for  the  sight  o'  gold 
we  got  at  Lionsdale  ;  and  'twould  be  no  more'n  fair  to  offer  to 
share,  leastways  to  offer  to  give  him  a  fresh  start  in  the  world." 

The  Doctor  shook  his  head.  "  Why,  man,  he'd  no  more  take 
it  than  he'd  take  Mrs.  Armstrong's  china.  No.  He  may  be 
the  better  for  his  fall — that's  as  happens  in  the  long  run — but 
he'll  take  nobody's  money  as  a  staff  to  prop  him  up  again ;  and, 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  445 

what  he'd  helped  others  to  get,  is  the  very  last  on  earth  he'd 
accept." 

"We  were  all  in  partnership  on  the  Bar,"  urged  Seth. 

"  That  was  ended  by  his  departure.  Still,  the  interest  we  have 
in  the  real  estate  may  fairly  be  esteemed  as  partly  his.  If  the 
adverse  claim  is  substantially  good  in  law,  our  title  is  valueless  ; 
but  if  there  is  any  doubt  about  it,  it  will  be  worth  while  for  the 
holders  of  the  Mexican  patent  to  buy  us  off,  and  worth  our  while 
to  be  bought.  Such  a  transaction  may  yield  a  few  thousands, 
and,  as  you  say,  give  Master  Hugh  a  fresh  start  in  the  world." 

"  But  Luke  thinks  him  so  very  much  depressed,  Doctor," 
said  Kitty,  "  so  hopeless  and  despairing  like,  though  very  gent Je 
and  grateful  for  what  he  says  all  of  us  have  done  for  him." 

"  ;  Time  and  the  hour  run  through  the  roughest  day,'  "  quoted 
the  Doctor.  "  We  must  wait  and  hope.  When  the  body  mends, 
the  spirit  may  also." 

"  Ah,  you  can  cure  the  one,  but  the  other " 

"  For  the  other,  he  needs  another  medicine." 

Luke  sighed,  and  strolled  out  to  find  Ike. 

"  What  he  needs,"  affirmed  Kitty,  "  is  what  I  fear  none  of  us 
can  find.  Mercy  knows  we've  tried  hard  enough." 

<•  Which  is — — " 

"  What  my  poor  boy  could  not  get,"  said  Mrs.  Armstrong 
gently,  but  with  a  tinge  of  motherly  regret ;  "  I  s'pose  you  mean 
Mary  Anne  ?" 

'•To be  sure.  There's  something  wrong,  and  he  won't  come 
round  not  for  money — not  for  a  share  in  the  estate — not  for  a 
new  Lionsdale  put  clear  into  his  lap — until  that's  made  right." 

"  Ah,  Kitty,"  said  Dick  Railes,  lachrymously,  "  you  kin  feel 
for  the  sore  heart,  the  hope  deferred  of  another,  but  for  one  like 
mine  that's  a  beating " 

"Go  along,  stupid!  Where's  the  resemblance,  I'd  like  to 
know  ?" 

"  Even  for  that  necessity,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  I  repeat,  '  Wait 
and  hope!'" 

;i There's  a  good  deal  in  that"  acquiesced  Seth  Armstrong, 
gravely.  "  Even  Ike,  afflicted  as  he  was,  at  last  found  his  rem 
edy." 

"  At  the  cost,"  said  Kitty,  sorrowfully,  "  of  the  friend  he  loved 
best  in  all  the  world.  Poor  Lion !" 

And  they  all  repeated  in  mournful  chorus,  "  Poor  Lion  I" 


446  MARIAN  ROOKE;    OR, 


CHAPTER  III. 

IT  is  a  sad  episode,  that  of  poor  Lion.  But  my  story  would 
be  incomplete  without  it,  and  I  would  not  leave  the  fate  of  even 
BO  humble  a  character  in  the  action  untold,  or,  by  touching  upon 
it  in  ambiguous  phrase,  clothe  the  subject  in  a  mystery  which 
might  be  more  painful  than  silence.  And  after  all,  may  we  not 
hope — as  some  of  us  who  have  been  so  simple  as  to  love  dumb 
animals  do  hope — that  the  love  and  the  kindliness  which  passed 
between  us  is  not  all  lost  even  when  the  poor  faithful  creature  is 
gone  out  of  sight  and  buried  forever ;  that  the  interchange  of 
fidelity  and  protection  has  served  a  wholesome  purpose,  has  sown 
a  generous  seed,  to  blossom  and  bear  fruits  of  charity  long  after 
we  as  well  as  our  dead  pets  may  be  out  of  sight — forgotten  ? 

If  so,  even  the  memory  of  such  episodes  may  not  be  without 
their  uses.  That  which  softens  the  heart  and  makes  moist  the 
eye,  which  inclines  us  to  one  gentle  action  that  might  have  gone 
undone  beside,  which  teaches  a  lesson  of  that  catholic  charity 
which  includes  not  only  all  races  of  men,  but  even  the  brutes 
whom  the  Almighty  has  appointed  to  live  among  and  be  pro 
tected  by  us,  may  not  be  all  in  vain.  I  know  that  the  life  and 
the  death  of  this  dog  have  not  been  so.  I  know  that  both 
brought  blessings.  I  know  that  there  are  those  to  whom  the 
remembrance  of  them  is  tender  and  salutary  ;  to  whom  it  is  as 
grateful  and  softening  as  the  south  wind  which  sweeps  over  poor 
Lion's  grave. 

They  had  brought  him  home  through  the  tropics,  and  the  unac 
customed  heat  which  so  often  prostrates  human  beings  was  man 
ifestly  injurious  to  him.  The  clearness  of  his  eye,  the  unceasing 
and  watchful  intelligence  of  his  face,  became  alike  blurred  and 
confused.  Once  on  board  the  steamer  in  the  Pacific,  he  showed 
equivocal  symptoms  of  disturbance,  and  some  had  proposed  to 
throw  him  overboard,  or  otherwise  to  destroy  him.  But  Ike, 
who  had  an  instinct  about  the  dog  like  a  mother's  for  an  infant, 
staid  with  him  constantly  by  night  and  day,  so  that  no  oppor 
tunity  presented  for  the  deed ;  and  on  the  Atlantic  side,  Luke 
managed  to  have  the  creature  put  in  a  cool,  dark  place,  where  he 
was  undisturbed  either  by  strangers  or  the  fatal  broiling  sun,  so 
that  he  was  no  worse  when  they  arrived  at  New  York. 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  447 

But  they  arrived  in  the  heat  of  midsummer,  and  although  ev 
ery  possible  care  and  pains  were  taken,  his  spirit  did  not  revive, 
and  his  constitution  seemed  to  have  lost  its  elasticity.  He  was  a 
powerful  animal,  truly,  but  he  was  no  longer  young ;  a  dog  of 
his  breed  at  ten  or  twelve  is,  like  a  man  past  middle  lite,  less 
able  to  grapple  with  a  powerful  disease  than  when  in  his  prime. 
However  they  went  speedily  to  the  farm,  the  Armstrong  family's 
old  time  possession,  and  it  was  hoped  that  in  its  green  fields  and 
unpolluted  atmosphere  Lion  would  recover. 

They  were  comfortably  settled  on  the  farm  by  July,  but  the 
weather  grew  hotter  and  hotter,  and  the  dog  became  more  rest 
less  than  he  had  ever  been  known  to  be  before.  He  was  savage 
to  strangers  too,  in  a  fashion  very  different  from  his  old  saga 
cious  way.  when  he  would  learn  by  the  expression  of  a  face,  the 
inflection  of  a  voice,  whether  hostility  was  proper,  and  whether 
he  had  to  face  friend  or  foe.  Soon  he  took  to  wandering  in  the 
village  hard  by,  and  once  or  twice  growled  at  the  farmers' 
children,  or  otherwise  unhappily  made  himself  enemies  ;  and 
presently  there  began  to  spread  a  latal  report  that  he  was  mad. 

So  complaint  was  made  in  a  deprecative  and  neighborly  way, 
and  Seth  said  the  creature  should  be  safely  confined.  A  kennel 
was  placed  in  a  quiet  nook  behind  the  barn,  where  both  shelter 
and  air  were  of  the  best,  and  to  this  abode  Lion  was  banished 
until  his  health  should  give  signs  of  amendment.  But  Ike  had 
got  hold  of  an  impression — not  an  unreasonable  one — that  his 
favorite  required  free  access  to  grass  and  water,  and  that,  to  effect 
his  restoration,  liberty  was  at  least  as  important  as  anything  else. 
The  simpleton,  with  his  usual  cunning,  made  no  open  objection 
to  the  imprisonment,  but  he  crept  to  the  place  at  night  and  set 
the  dog  free,  taking  care  to  leave  matters  in  such  a  position  at  the 
kennel  as  to  favor  the  idea  that  Lion  had  enfranchised  himself.  On 
these  occasions  he  would  be  found  rambling  about  the  premises  on 
the  following  morning,  and  Luke  or  Dick  Railes  would  tie  him  up 
again. 

But  on  one  unlucky  night,  or  rather  morning,  for  the  incident 
appeared  to  have  occurred  in  the  small  hours,  a  youth  somewhat 
noted  in  the  neighborhood  for  a  rather  predatory  turn  of  mind, 
was  cornered  by  Lion  in  the  pear  orchard  near  the  house,  and  not 
only  roughly  treated  in  respect  of  his  homespun  trousers,  but  re 
ceived  one  severe  bite  in  the  leg.  The  lad's  mother  was  related 
to  half  the  village,  and  raised  a  terrible  hue  and  cry,  so  that  the 
little  place  was  quite  in  a  ferment  of  commotion.  The  unlawful 
attempt  which  led  to  the  misfortune  was  prudently  lost  sight  of 
in  the  swelling  proportions  of  Lion's  crime.  What  indeed  was  a 


448  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

whole  wilderness  of  pears  compared  with  the  darling's  maltreated 
calf? — what  the  sanctity  of  property  contrasted  with  a  be-lamed 
tendon  Achillis  ? 

The  echo  of  this  ominous  commotion  speedily  reached  the  farm, 
and  serious  counsel  was  taken  regarding  the  best  plan  of  opera 
tions.  While  this  was  yet  undetermined,  a  delegation  arrived 
from  the  village,  consisting  of  the  blacksmith,  the  wounded  ad 
venturer's  uncle,  and  the  sexton,  his  maternal  grandfather. 
These  officials,  with  a  respect  due  to  the  wealth  and  conceded 
standing  of  the  Armstrong  family,  coolly  demanded  the  life  of  the 
assassin  who  had  mutilated  the  leg  of  their  kinsman.  It  was  a 
fact  so  firmly  established  as  tobe beyond  all  cavil  or  question  that, 
whether  the  dog  were  mad  now  or  not,  if  he  subsequently  be 
came  so,  their  kinsman  would  go  mad  likewise.  In  view  of  this 
possible  catastrophe,  no  Christian  could  hesitate  between  the  life 
of  a  brute,  however  honest,  and  that  of  a  human  being,  however 
the  reverse.  This  was  the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  their  rea 
soning  ;  and  it  was  clear,  notwithstanding  the  veil  of  a  civil  de 
ference,  that  the  deputation  considered  their  statement  rather  in 
the  light  of  a  mandate  supported  by  an  overwhelming  majority, 
than  as  a  request,  open  to  deliberation  and  optional  refusal.  In 
other  words,  they  implied,  prior  to  their  departure,  that,  if  the 
owner  did  not  think  fit  to  destroy  the  animal,  it  would  be  pre 
sumed  that  the  task  was  voluntarily  relegated  to  any  patriot  of  the 
vicinity  who  might  choose  to  undertake  it.  With  this  they  departed. 

The  family  were  in  sore  perplexity.  They  knew  no  one  at  a 
distance  to  whose  care  the  poor  dog  could  be  consigned ;  and 
even  if  they  had,  it  were  scarcely  kindly  or  conscientious  to  call 
upon  friends  to  assume  the  care  and  risk  of  a  culprit  whose  fair 
fame  had  received  so  blackening  a  tinge,  and  for  whose  deeds, 
should  he  forget  himself,  they  would  become  responsible  in  an 
imminent  degree.  There  seemed  no  security  in  tying  him  up, 
since  he  always  managed  to  get  free  ;  and  if  anybody  had  a  sus 
picion  as  to  how  this  had  happened  hitherto,  he  also  had  a  con 
viction  that  a  similar  objection  would  remain  hereafter. 

While  Seth,  Luke,  and  Dick  Railes  debated,  the  question  was 
settled  in  an  apparently  conclusive  manner.  The  dog  could  no 
where  he  found.  Of  course,  every  one  suspected  Ike,  but  no  one 
could  get  him  to  make  the  least  admission,  or  offer  the  least  ex 
planation.  Naturally,  this  gave  rise  to  anxiety  ;  for  it  seemed 
certain  that  whatever  danger  existed  of  Lion's  destruction  was 
not  obviated  by  a  temporary  concealment,  and  all  dreaded  the 
effect  which  any  sudden  casualty  of  the  sort  might  have  upon  Ike. 
The  Doctor  was  still  in  New  York  ;  but  he  had  always  warned 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  449 

the  family  that  any  violent  excitement  might  be  expected  to  pro 
duce  a  great  and  permanent  effect  on  the  simpleton's  clouded 
mind,  and  all  were  naturally  anxious  to  avert  what  might  prove 
a  grave  calamity.  When  it  was  evident  that  straightforward 
questions  were  useless,  then  recourse  was  had  to  indirection. 

"I  s'pose  ye  know,  lad,"  observed  Seth,  discreetly,  '"that  the 
folks  in  the  village  feel  as  though  they  had  a  call  to  finish  the 
poor  critter  if  he  comes  in  their  way.  'Twquld  be  an  awful  pity 
if  he  was  to  go  onloosin'  of  hisself  again,  and  meetin'  praps  a 
cruel  and  a  lingerin'  death  ;  wouldn't  it  now  ?" 

Ike  said  nothing,  but  he  gripped  the  axe  wherewith  he  was 
splitting  wood  with  a  tighter  hold,  and  his  furtive-looking  eyes 
flashed  with  an  unwonted  fire ;  so  the  old  man  shook  his  head 
and  went  his  way. 

"  I'd  much  rather  not  have  an  enemy  in  the  neighborhood," 
said  Luke,  confidentially,  "  now  that  we  are  all  settled  so  snug 
and  comfortable  on  the  old  homestead ;  but  I  fear  I  couldn't  for 
give  any  man  who  did  old  Lion  a  mischief.  I'd  a  great  deal 
rather  such  a  thing  were  put  out  of  the  question  ;  wouldn't  you, 
Ike?" 

But  Ike  only  set  his  teeth  and  went  sullenly  on  with  what  he 
called  his  "chores."  If  he  had  possessed  the  wealth  of  Croesus,  he 
would  have  insisted  on  doing  all  the  same  what  he  was  so  habit 
uated  to,  and  have  neglected  it  now  and  again  when  the  humor 
seized  him  in  the  like  reasonless  way. 

Then  it  was  sweet,  kind-hearted  Kitty's  turn.  Kitty,  always 
a  great  favorite  with  Ike,  and  growing  more  plump  and,  if  pos 
sible,  more  comely  as  a  young  matron  than  she  had  been  as 
a  budding  girl.  "  Poor  dear  old  Lion,"  she  breathed,  softly,  to 
Ike,  as  they  stood  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  after  the  cows  had 
been  milked  and  supper-time  had  come,  when  Lion  used  inva 
riably,  wherever  they  might  be,  to  present  himself  for  his  own. 
"Poor  dear  old  Lion  ;  I  suppose  he  knows  they  want  to  hurt 
him,  and  so  keeps  out  of  harm's  way.  But  oh,  Ike,  if  he  gets 
loose  and  goes  about  the  village  again  at  night  and  anything 
happened,  what  should  we  do '?" 

But  Ike  was  silent  still.  Even  the  ingenious  assumption  of 
Lion's  being  confined  for  safe  keeping,  and  of  Ike's  being  privy 
to  the  fact,  entirely  failed  to  draw  forth  any  admission.  Not  a 
word  should  pass  his  lips  that  would  give  any.  the  faintest,  clue 
to  friend  or  foe.  Ike  had  heard  that  morning  one  word,  one 
horrible  word,  spoken  in  connection  with  Lion,  and  it  had  glow 
ed  before  his  imagination  in  letters  of  blood,  ever  since.  This 
awful  word,  death,  never  quitted  his  thoughts,  and  all  the  force 


450  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

of  his  feeble  brain  was  obstinately  bent,  as  it  always  was  when 
his  affections  were  deeply  involved,  to  prevent  its  infliction  upon 
Lion. 

After  midnight  Ike  rose,  as  he  had  done  long  ago  to  guide 
Hugh  Gifford  to  his  ill-fated  fortune,  and  made  his  way  stealth 
ily  to  the  barn.  Far  away  in  a  remote  corner  above  the  main- 
floor  and  even  with  the  loft,  where  was  stowed  a  great  quantity 
of  hay,  he  groped  cautiously  along  until  he  came  to  a  long-dis 
used  corn-bin,  secured  with  a  rusty  padlock,  and  which  he  opened. 
In  this  binlay  Lion,  patient  and  silent.  Ike  had  had  a  long,  earn 
est  interview  with  him, while  the  deputation  of  his  enemies  were 
concluding  their  harangue  in  the  morning,  and  the  consequent 
understanding  was  no  doubt  comprehensive  and  complete.  Lion 
knew  what  was  expected  of  him  in  the  way  of  noiselessness  and 
caution,  and  he  was  not  a  dog  wittingly  to  go  behind  his  engage 
ments. 

Then  Ike  took  a  hatchet,  a  piece  of  stout  chain,  a  tin  pail, 
and  a  bag  of  broken  meat  he  had  secreted,  and  whispering  the 
animal  to  follow,  passed  down  to  the  ground  floor  of  the  barn, 
and  so  out  into  the  open  air.  On  they  went  over  the  bosky 
fields,  which  lay  still  and  glooming  in  the  summer's  night, while 
the  air  was  weighted  with  the  sweets  of  new-mown  hay,  and  the 
fragrance  which  falling  dew  distilled  from  harvest  flowers. 

.  They  went  a  long  way,  and  that  back  from  the  river,  and  so 
toward  the  inner  country.  Practised  wanderer  and  explorer  as 
he  was,  Ike  was  not  at  fault  for  a  refuge,  a  sanctuary  for  his 
favorite.  It  was  about  two  miles  from  the  farm-house,  where  a 
range  of  rather  abrupt  hills  finished  a  spur  which  cropped  down 
from  the  rougher  country  northwards.  Among  these  hills  was 
one  steeper,  higher,  and  more  difficult  of  access  in  every  way 
than  any  other.  Scarcely  precipitous  enough  to  deserve  its  cur 
rent  name  of  "  Sugarloaf,"  it  was  yet  so  much  more  so  than  its 
fellows,  as  to  defy  agricultural  invasion,  and  its  ascent  was  sel 
dom  attempted  by  dwellers  adjacent,  to  whom  the  only  reward, 
in  the  shape  of  a  very  fine  landscape,  would  have  offered  no  at 
tractions  commensurate  with  the  labor  of  earning  it.  No  plough 
would  ever  disturb  that  hill-top,  and  few  footsteps.  Ike  was  a 
very  good  judge  of  the  chances  in  a  case  like  this.  What  he 
most  disliked  was  the  necessity  for  depriving  Lion  of  his  liberty, 
practically  as  well  as  ostensibly.  The  creature  knew  much,  but 
hardly  enough  to  refrain  from  following  his  master  down  again 
when  he  should  ofler  to  leave  him  solitary  and  alone  on  the  des 
olate  hill. 

When  with  some  difficulty  and  protracted  toil  they  gained  the 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  451 

summit,  Ike  set  vigorously  to  work  to  erect  a  habitation  for 
Lion's  future  residence.  There  was  plenty  of  loose  stone,  and 
a  good  deal  of  practice  at  amateur  house-building  in  California 
enabled  the  architect  to  work  with  no  little  skill  and  celerity. 
In  an  hour  he  had  made  a  cool,  dark  cell  for  the  future  recluse, 
so  arranged  that  he  would  in  no  case  be  visible  from  below,  and 
could  always  at  pleasure  avoid  the  glare  of  the  sun.  During 
these  preparations  Lion  watched  his  master  with  comprehensive 
sagacity,  and  wagged  his  tail  in  acquiescence  when  the  latter 
would  now  and  again  inquire  his  wishes  as  to  some  matter  of 
construction. 

The  citadel  being  finished,  it  remained  to  provide  the  garrison 
with  provisions.  Ike  had  brought  meat  in  his  bag  sufficient  to 
last  for  a  couple  of  days ;  and  lie  now  went  half  way  down  the 
acclivity  to  a  spring,  where  he  filled  the  pail  he  had  fetched  for 
this  purpose.  When  all  was  done,  Lion  was  chained  to  a  staple 
driven  into  a  tree  close  to  the  door  of  his  mansion,  the  other  end 
being  carefully  secured  by  a  double  swivel  to  his  collar.  Ike 
took  great  pains  this  time  that  the  captive  should  not  be  able  to 
release  himself,  a  fact  of  which  the  tender  reproach  in  the  latter* s 
shaggy  face  showed  him  to  be  well  aware. 

';  You  must  stay  put  this  time,  Lion,"  said  Ike,  apologetically, 
"or  else  them  bloody-minded  varmints  '11  ketch  ye,  sure. 
Seein'  there's  enough  to  eat  and  drink,  a  good  roof  over  your 
head,  and  a  fine  airy  prospect,  you  might  stay  put  if  it  is  a 
little  lonesome  ;  let  alone  that,  Ike  '11  come  back  to-morrow,  if 
he  can;  the  next  day  whether  or  no." 

So  Lion  mournfully  acquiesced,  and,  with  much  compunction 
and  many  marks  of  love,  Ike  made  his  way  down  Sugarloaf, 
and  home  to  the  old  farmhouse,  just  as  the  red  ribbons  were  com 
mencing  to  flutter  and  widen  in  the  eastern  skies,  and  the  cool 
blue  at  the  zenith  was  beginning  to  fade. 

For  many  days — some  weeks  in  fact — nothing  was  heard  or 
seen  of  the  missing  one.  Of  course  everybody  at  the  house 
knew  that  Ike  was  in  the  secret,  whatever  it  was,  otherwise  he 
would  never  take  Ms  friend's  absence  so  quietly.  They  tried 
cross-examining  again,  but  with  the  same  ill  success  as  before  ; 
and  then,  experienced  in  the  poor  witling's  obstinacy  as  they 
were,  they  ceased  to  question,  and  the  quiet  life  rolled  on  as 
before. 

Every  night  or  two  Ike  would  steal  off  to  Sugarloaf,  and 
supply  the  hermit  with  provisions  and  fresh  water.  But  Lion 
pined  under  his  tedious  incarceration,  and  expressed  a  growing 
discontent  that  it  should  be  so  long  protracted.  Might  not  the 


452  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

memory  of  his  crime  have  so  far  softened  and  dissipated,  that  he 
could  again,  with  prudence,  show  himself  in  the  community  ? 
Might  not  the  fact  of  his  lengthy  exile  fairly  plead  in  condona 
tion  of  the  offence  which  had  been  its  cause  ?  Lion  thought  so  ; 
and,  perhaps,  he  had  a  certain  perception  of  the  weakness  of  his 
friend's  understanding,  which  led  him,  unhappily,  to  a  fatal  self- 
reliance  when  he  came  to  choose  between  Ike's  caution  and  his 
own  inclinations. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  one  solitary  night  in  July,  when  there  was 
no  moon,  Luke,  who  had  been  at  the  neighboring  town  on 
some  business  or  another,  happened  to  drive  home  very  late. 
As  his  horse  trotted  by  the  orchard — which  ran  over  a  series  of 
hillocks  rising  behind  the  great  barn — he  saw  on  the  most  dis 
tant  slope,  where  the  trees  were  sparsest,  a  suspicious-looking 
figure. 

It  looked  draggled  and  woebgone,  and  had  that  wistful  and 
yet  doubtful  air  which  wretched  beings  wear  who,  rightfully  or 
wrongfully,  have  been  cast  forth  by  society,  and  who  cherish 
evermore  thereafter  a  resentful,  yet  shrinking  consciousness,  that 
they  never  again  shall  be  welcomed  in  it.  The  figure  was  pen 
sive  and  gaunt,  and  it  drew  along  with  it  a  fragment  of  dismal 
chain. 

Luke  first  called  gently  to  the  outcast,  but  it  only  shook  its 
tail  with  one  sorrowful  wag  and  kept  its  attitude  of  dull  expect 
ancy.  Then  Luke  alighted,  and  clambering  over  a  rough  stone 
wall,  made  straight  for  the  spot  where  it  stood.  But  whether 
the  creature  had  a  conviction  of  his  own  wrongdoing  in  the 
matter  of  his  escape,  or  mistook  in  the  darkness  one  who  had 
always  been  kind  to  him  for  a  stranger,  he  took  alarm  at  his 
approach,  and  fled  silently  away.  Luke  tried  pursuit,  but  soon 
found  it  useless  and  gave  up  the  chase. 

Next  morning  he  resolved  to  put  Ike  on  his  guard,  since  it 
was  clear  Lion  had  found  means  to  break  from  prison,  and  en 
largement  must  needs  be  fraught  with  grave  peril  to  his  life. 
But  the  breakfast-table  was  in  a  sad  uproar.  People  had  come 
from  the  village  with  accounts  of  a  most  calamitous  character. 
Two  sheep  had  been  worried  and  one  killed  in  the  night;  a 
large  mastiff  belonging  to  the  butcher  had  been  mercilessly 
thrashed,  so  that  it  was  thought  he  must  also  be  destroyed; 
several  people  who  tried  to  come  to  the  rescue  had  been  savagely 
attacked,  and  although  none  were  hurt,  more  than  one  was  much 
frightened,  and  all  escaped  only  by  the  chance  of  being  near 
their  own  doors.  Finally,  no  one  was  safe  while  this  marauding 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  453 

desperado  was  at  large,  and  the  village  peremptorily  demanded 
his  instant  execution. 

It  appeared  that  poor  Lion  was  fulfilling  the  usual  destiny  of 
Ishmaels  and  Pariahs  from  time  immemorial.  What  physiologi 
cal  causes  connected  with  his  long  imprisonment  may  have  pro 
voked  him  to  wild  and  sudden  lawlessness  may  be  surmised,  but, 
in  the  absence  of  means  for  hearing  his  defence,  cannot  be  posi 
tively  known.  Luke  and  Dick  Railes  stoutly  maintained  their 
disbelief  that  Lion  was  capable  of  such  foul  deeds  as  were  thus 
imputed  to  him.  Seth  was  dreadful  sorry — dreadful — but  really 
he  didn't  know  where  the  poor  critter  was.  Kitty  cried  and 
looked  beseechingly  at  the  deputation,  as  if  to  disarm  then-  san 
guinary  intention;  Mrs.  Armstrong  glared  at  them  over  her 
spectacles,  shook  her  head  and  her  knitting-needles  in  boding 
unison,  and  said  nothing;  while  Ike  religiously  followed  her 
example. 

The  sum  of  ah1  was,  that  the  culprit  was  ranging  at  large; 
that  none  of  the  family  knew  or  would  tell  of  his  whereabouts  ; 
that  if  he  had  misbehaved  in  the  manner  described,  they  certainly 
could  not  expect  the  parties  aggrieved  to  refrain  from  demand 
ing  expiation ;  and  that,  albeit  they  could  not  deliver  up  the 
dog,  they  assuredly  would  pay  for  the  sheep.  "With  this  under 
standing  the  villagers  departed  with  mollified  feelings  towards 
the  family,  but  breathing  vows  of  vengeance  on  the  fugitive 
criminal.  The  Fates  were  weaving  away  slowly  but  surely,  and 
the  catastrophe  was  not  far  off. 

But  Ike,  his  mind  in  a  whirl  of  blended  fury  and  apprehension, 
swore  silently  to  avert  it.  He  knew  that  the  dog  would  not 
tarry  in  the  open  country,  and  that  since  he  had  escaped  the 
dangers  of  the  night  he  was  probably  safe  in  his  retreat  for  the 
day.  So  Ike  went  calmly  about  his  usual  avocations,  and  waited 
until  darkness  again  covered  the  earth  ere  he  sought  the  place 
of  concealment.  At  midnight  he  made  his  way  thither,  and,  as 
he  expected,  found  the  wanderer  at  home.  When  he  found  him, 
Ike's  heart  rather  sank ;  for  there  were  more  physical  evidences 
than  one  scattered  about  of  Lion's  guilt ;  moreover,  there  were 
two  especial  circumstances  which  told  against  him  very  badly : 
when  he  ostensibly  recognized  his  master  he  assumed  an  air  of 
hypocritical  penitence,  but  when  Ike  first  came  up  the  height  he 
affected  to  be  asleep.  Poor  Lion!  Thou  art  not  the  first  or 
the  last  who  has  sought,  by  lying,  to  cover  sins  to  which  thou 
wast  driven  by  the  unmerited  persecutions  of  society. 

After  that  night,  Ike  felt  no  less  love  for  his  old  friend  ;  he 
even  felt  more  tenderly  toward  him  since  there  mingled  with  the 


454  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

sentiment  an  increased  impulse  of  pity.  Yet  he  had  also  an  ill- 
detined  emotion  of  dread  and  self-accusation  ;  for  he  now  knew 
that  he  was  shielding  a  criminal.  Alas  !  for  the  poor  unfortu 
nates,  the  cast-offs  and  tabooed  ones  of  the  world,  when  even 
the  compassionate  hearts  which  have  sheltered,  begin  to  waver 
as  to  whether  justice  has  really  braced  their  arm  when  it  inter 
posed  the  pitying  shield. 

Lion  was  now  made  fast  in  bonds  intended  to  defy  his  utmost 
cunning.  The  chain  was  doubled,  and  a  rope  was  added  to  sup 
plement  its  restraints.  The  cry  of  vengeance  was  on  the  gale, 
and  nothing  should  now  be  left  to  chance.  When  all  was  done, 
Ike  delivered  a  long  and  touching  expostulation  on  the  impro 
priety  of  Lion's  conduct  and  the  risks  to  which  it  subjected  him. 
But  Lion  did  not  listen  with  the  same  apparent  interest  and  clear 
ness  of  apprehension  as  before,  and  once  or  twice  he  turned  his 
head  sullenly  away.  Injustice  was  doing  her  work  and  his  con 
science  was  becoming  seared. 

Ike  pondered  long  and  anxiously  about  the  best  means  of 
saving  his  favorite's  life.  There  was  no  doubt  but  the  danger 
was  imminent.  Some  of  the  villagers  had  talked  of  poison  and 
some  of  steel,  but  there  were  certain  perils  about  the  use  of 
either  which  led  them  to  be  objected  to.  Gunpowder  was  free 
from  such,  so  that  it  was  generally  agreed  that  the  dog  should  be 
shot.  Whenever  he  might  again  make  his  nocturnal  way  into 
the  village,  half-a-dozen  guns  would  be  ambushed  for  him,  and 
by  one  of  these  it  was  resolved  that  Lion  should  fall. 

Still,  there  seemed  to  be  no  safer  place  than  Sugarloaf  for  the 
hunted  beast  to  abide  in.  The  danger  of  his  being  discovered 
there  was  small,  but  that  of  his  again  descending  among  his 
enemies  was  considerable.  To  insure  against  this,  Ike  took  all 
possible  precaution. 

For  several  days  a  bitter  feeling  prevailed  in  the  village.  Some 
one  had  started  the  idea  that  the  dog  was  intentionally  hidden 
about  the  farm.  Then  there  followed  much  prowling  and  spy 
ing  around  the  premises,  which  did  not  quite  please  the  Arm 
strongs,  but  which  made  Ike  morose  and  savage.  The  fourth 
night  after  Lion's  last  escapade,  his  master,  on  attempting  to  leave 
the  homestead  to  visit  him,  found  that  he  was  watched.  Two 
men  had  been  lurking  in  the  adjacent  fields  with  guns.  They 
saw  Ike  emerge  from  the  house,  and  they  followed  in  his  tracks. 
He  had  gone  nearly  a  mile,  when,  by  accident,  he  became  con 
scious  of  the  fact.  One  of  the  men  in  scaling  a  wall  knocked  a 
stone  or  two  off  its  top.  Ike  did  not  look  behind,  but  kept  on 
for  a  hundred  yards  more,  and  then  turned  and  led  his  pursuers 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  455 

a  wild  dance  for  several  miles  through  woods  and  meadows,  and 
then  retraced  his  way  to  the  farm.  Thus  he  gave  up  seeing  Lion 
or  taking  him  food  for  that  night. 

The  following  morning,  he  got  hold  of  an  old  fowlingpiece  of 
Dick's  and  carefully  loaded  it,  putting  buck  shot  in  both  barrels, 
and  scrupulously  cleaning  and  priming  the  nipples  to  insure  that 
it  did  not  miss  fire.  Was  Lion  to  starve  because  his  relentless 
foes  were  keeping  him  in  virtual  blockade  ?  No  ;  that  very  night 
he  would  make  his  way  to  Sugarloaf  by  hook  or  crook  and  take 
him  supplies.  The  weather  was  stifling  hot  and  the  animal  could 
do  without  food,  perhaps  with  advantage,  but  not  without  water. 
Water  he  must  have,  at  all  hazards,  and  that  night  he  should 
have  it. 

Alas  !  that  night  was  too  late.  It  was  nearly  evening,  and 
the  red  sun  was  going  down  in  ablaze  of  sultry  glory.  The  cows 
were  flocking  lazily  up  to  the  farm-yard  or  standing  in  odorous 
complacency  at  the  gates.  The  men  had  come  in  from  toil,  and 
were  bathing  their  flushed  and  sunburnt  faces  in  the  cool  water, 
for  which  poor  Lion  had  yearned  and  yearned  in  vain.  Mrs. 
Armstrong  was  blinking  over  her  glasses  at  the  setting  sun,  and 
Kitty  was  bustling  after  her  handmaid,  who  was  getting  supper. 

Suddenly  there  rose  from  the  direction  of  the  village  a  fearful, 
an  appalling  yell  !  and  the  boy,  who  threw  down  his  milking- 
pail  and  dashed  off  to  the  nearest  house,  came  scampering  back, 
his  face  white  with  terror.  A  mad  dog  I  A  mad  dog  was  in  the 
village  \  It  had  been  seen  slinking  down  the  old  Saybrookpike 
towards  the  Armstrong  Farm,  and  some  boys  had  driven  it 
toward  the  main  street,  where  it  had  bitten  a  child,  and  was  running 
about  snapping  furiously  at  all  in  its  way.  Presently  two  shots 
were  heard  in  quick  succession,  and  a  neighbor  ran  in  to  say 
it  was  their  dog  Lion  ;  he  had  gone  mad,  certainly  ;  they  had 
fired  at  but  did  not  succeed  in  disabling  him,  and  he  had  escaped 
into  the  woods  on  the  south  side  of  the  burying-ground,  with 
half  the  village  in  hot  pursuit ! 

All  this  took  scarcely  a  minute,  and  before  the  words  were 
well  out  of  the  last  messenger's  mouth,  Ike  had  dashed  off  to  the 
barn,  seized  his  gun  from  its  place  of  hiding,  and  was  running  across 
the  fields  like  a  deer.  Not  far  behind  him  came  Luke  and  Dick 
Railes,  and  behind  them  again  came  the  laborers  of  the  farm. 

The  whole  party,  as  well  as  Lion  and  his  pursuers,  were  con 
verging  upon  Sugarloaf  Hill.  Happily  the  dog  had  managed 
to  get  a  long  start  of  his  enemies,  and,  although  wounded,  his 
legs  were  safe,  and  he  pressed,  as  Ike  expected,  straight  for  his 
retreat.  He  had  broken  his  collar  and  airped  for  the  farm,  but 


456  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

set  upon  as  he  had  been,  and  driven  obliquely  in  another  direc 
tion,  he  could  not  now,  without  facing  his  assailants,  carry  out 
this  design,  while  he  could  readily  run  toward  the  hill. 

When  Ike  got  there,  the  dog  was  in  his  lair.  Breathless  with 
the  speed  of  his  flight,  which  had  been  thus  concluded  by  climb 
ing  the  precipitous  slope,  Ike  threw  himself  on  the  turf  to  re 
cover.  It  was  smeared  and  dabbled  with  blood!  Poor  Ike 
found  his  hands  all  covered  with  it,  and — without  looking  for 
his  friend,  he  burst  out  crying. 

At  which  Lion  came  crawling  forth — crawling  with  great 
difficulty,  for  he  was  sorely  wounded,  and  well-nigh  spent ;  but 
he  crawled  to  where  Ike  lay,  panting  and  sobbing  like  a- stricken 
hart,  and  licked  his  hands,  and  then  his  face,  with  a  comforting 
expression  that  was  very  pitiful.  And  Ike  put  his  arms  around 
Lion's  neck  and  kissed  his  head  again  and  again  as  if  he  had 
been  a  human  being,  while  the  dog,  with  all  the  feeble  expres 
sion  which  was  left  to  him,  testified  his  love  and  joy. 

It  was  the  only  living  thing  the  poor  simpleton  had  ever  loved. 
Attached  he  had  been  to  Gilford,  but  that  was  a  secondary  feel 
ing,  friendship  or  gratitude,  engendered  of  the  first.  Was  it 
foolish  then,  or  absurd,  this  tenderness  for  a  poor,  dumb  brute  1 
I  do  not  think  so ;  nor  would  any  one  who  could  have  gazed 
upon  that  scene  and  read  aright  the  world  of  sympathy  and  af 
fection,  which  darkened  mind  and  brute  instinct  could  thus  in 
terchange  to  console  and  bless  each  other. 

The  roar  of  bitter,  threatening  voices  came  nearer  and  nearer, 
and  the  sun's  disk  was  on  the  horizon.  They  were  coming 
straight  to  the  quarry.  Some  one  had  seen  Lion  toiling  up  the 
steep,  and  the  whole  array  of  avengers  were  following  in  his 
track.  On  one  side  came  the  party  of  the  village  headed  by 
the  man  whose  child  was  said  to  have  been  bitten,  and  who 
carried  a  musket.  Nearer  and  nearer  they  came,  until  at  last 
their  heads,  then  their  bodies,  then  their  feet  were  level  with 
the  top  of  the  hill.  Lion  crept  closer  to  his  master,  and  laid 
his  head  on  Ike's  lap. 

"Move!"  gasped  the  foremost  man,  thickly.  "Move  so's  I 
shan't  hurt  ye !"  and  he  presented  his  musket. 

"  Don't  be  rash,  Anderson  !"  cried  Luke,  coming  up  close  be 
hind.  "Let's  hear,  any  way,  what  the  poor  brute's  done  !" 

"Done!"  roared  the  crowd  in  derision,  'k  done,  enough,  I 
guess!"  "He  ain't  no  safe  critter  to  have  round!"  "He  bites 
folks  !"  "  He  kills  sheep !"  "  'Taint  right  to  the  neighborhood 
to  let  him  live!" 

"Bitten  my  child!"  retorted  Anderson  for  his  part,  "who'll 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  457 

die,  like  enough;  anyhow,  he  will !"  and  again  he  threw  the  mus 
ket  up  to  his  shoulder. 

"It's  true,  Mr.  Armstrong,"  said  a  calm-looking  man  with  a 
deep  red  face  and  white  hair,  "  I  see  poor  little  Susy  bit,  and  a 
bad  bite  it  was  too.  She  was  playing  in  the  road,  and  she  hove 
a  stick  jest  like  this,  and " 

"He'll  die,  any  how."  exclaimed  Dick  Railes,  who  had  been 
hastily  examining  the  dog's  hurt  with  an  utter  disregard  to  the 
tale  of  his  being  rabid.  "He's  shot  clean  through  the  side,  and 
two  ribs  are  broken !" 

"  Then  make  an  end  on't !  It's  a  mercy!  Kill  him  off  and  have 
done ! "  shouted  the  crowd. 

"  I  said  I'd  kill  him,  and  I  will!"  cried  Anderson  fiercely. 

"He  was  drav  to  it — druv  to  it!"  murmured  poor  Ike,  the 
tears  falling  fast  on  Lion's  head ;  and,  drawing  him  closer  to 
his  bosom,  "  You  druv  him  to  it,  among  ye — you  shan't  kill  him 
for  it!"  The  villagers  were  now  closely  huddled  about  the 
group,  and  their  murmurs  grew  each  moment  more  ominous 
and  threatening. 

"Consent,  Ike,"  whispered  Luke,  kindly;  "poor,  dear  old 
Lion  is  sadly  hurt,  and  will  thank  us  for  being  out  of  his  mis 
ery — indeed  he  will!" 

"Once  for  all,"  roared  Anderson,  noisily  supported  and  urged 
on  by  the  crowd,  "  stand  aside,  and  let  me  fire  !" 

A  gleam  of  resolution  flew  over  Ike's  face,  and  he  dashed  the 
back  of  his  hand  across  his  eyes.  The  parting  rays  of  the  sun 
gilded  his  forehead  as  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and  looked  up  to 
Heaven  as  if  seeking  there  for  the  mercy  denied  by  man. 

"  Me,  then!"  cried  Ike  hoarsely.  "No  one  else  shall  touch 
him !"  and,  quick  as  light,  he  levelled  his  gun  while  Luke  and 
Dick  pressed  back  the  others.  Instantly  the  report  of  both  bar 
rels  followed ;  the  contents  of  both  had  passed  through  Lion's 
heart,  The  dog  died  without  a  cry.  But  Ike,  without  pausing 
to  close  the  poor  brute's  forgiving  eyes,  threw  the  fatal  gun  far 
down  the  hill,  and  with  a  groan  of.  anguish  fell  insensible  across 
the  body. 


20 


458  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

KITTY  ARMSTRONG  had  lately  become  Kitty  Railes ;  for  after 
many  postponements  and  excuses  concerning  the  new  house,  the 
bridal  trousseau,  the  absence  of  somebody  she  wanted  for  a 
bridesmaid,  the  illness  of  somebody  she  wanted  for  a  grooms 
man,  and  the  like,  the  marriage  ceremony  was  consummated  at 
last  in  the  old  village  church  of  Saybrook. 

Things  were  managed  very  quietly  for  more  reasons  than  one. 
It  was  not  quite  seemly,  for  example,  when  so  old  a  friend — and 
a  friend  to  whom,  in  spite  of  his  distant  ways,  they  were  all 
sincerely  attached — lay  ill  in  the  house  of  a  malady  which  might 
yet  prove  mortal,  to  indulge  over  much  merry-making.  Then 
they  had  failed  to  see  Marian ;  and  not  only  failed  to  see,  but  even 
to  hear  from  her.  Luke,  his  father,  and  the  Doctor  had  repair 
ed  to  the  agent's  together,  to  make  inquiries.  Mr.  Rivingstone 
had  gone  South,  for  how  long  they  did  not  know,  and  to  what 
particular  quarter  they  were  not  informed ;  they  presumed  that 
Miss  Rooke  accompanied  him ;  at  all  events,  it  was  business 
connected  with  her  affairs  which  had  taken  Mr.  Rivingstone 
away ;  but  it  was  quite  impossible  to  tell  when  he,  or  she,  or 
both  might  return.  It  was  much  the  same  account  as  that  which 
Hugh  received  when  he  also  returned  from  California ;  and  the 
South  was  quite  as  large  as  Europe  to  hunt  about  in.  So  Kitty, 
after  fretting  and  vowing  she  would  not  be  married  unless  Marian 
came  to  help  her,  and  after  writing  her  some  half-dozen  long  let 
ters,  which  neither  she  nor  any  one  else  had  the  least  idea  how 
to  direct,  finally  consented  to  a  very  plain  wedding  without  her. 
For  Dick's  part,  he  had  a  great  respect  for  Mr.  Gifford,  and 
truly  hoped  he'd  get  well  and  hearty  again  ;  but  as  for  a  grooms 
man,  he'd  as  soon  have  the  Doctor  as  anybody;  or,  failing  him, 
the  theodolite  would  no  doubt  have  equally  answered  his  pur 
pose. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  happy  pair  had  a  cheerful  rather  than 
a  merry  honeymoon.  They  went  off  to  Boston  during  the  first 
week  ;  but  Dick  came  back  in  high  dudgeon,  swearing  he  had 
seen  more  hypocritical  faces,  starchy  airs,  tippling  of  bad  wins- 
key  on  the  sly,  and  general  under-hand  and  make-believe  doings, 
than  he  allowed  could  be  found  from  St.  Paul's  to  the  Rio 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  459 

Grande.  Hugh  was  not  yet  strong  enough  to  talk  or  be  talked 
to  in  a  general  way,  else  Dick  would  have  perhaps  found  in  him 
a  sympathizing  auditor. 

Hugh  lay  on  his  couch  and  heard  the  old  church  bells  peal  out 
for  Kitty's  wedding.  A  little  while,  he  thought,  and  the  year 
of  probation  would  have  passed  which  was  to  have  brought  his 
union  with  Marian.  It  was  strange  she  had  never  sent  to  inquire 
for  him,  since  she  must  have  heard  of  his  illness.  Surely  it  need 
not  have  compromised  her  in  any  way  to  send  a  kindly  message, 
to  ask  whether  he  was  like  to  live  or  die.  And  yet,  he  thought 
bitterly,  it  was  the  way  of  the  world.  He  was  in  the  position 
of  Jacques'  wounded  deer,  and  even  his  lost  love  followed  the 
example  of  the  herd  of  "  fat  and  greasy  citizens"  which  swept 
on  without  even  a  look  for  "the  poor  and  broken  bankrupt 
there." 

Hugh  did  Marian  injustice ;  she  had  gone  South  with  Mr. 
Rivingstone  on  the  third  day  after  sending  her  letter,  and  was 
entirely  ignorant  of  what  had  befallen  during  the  week  which 
succeeded  the  adventure  in  the  Bay.  She  supposed  him  as  rich 
and  as  prosperous  as  ever,  nor  could  she  doubt,  after  what  she 
had  heard,  that  however  her  resolution,  and  the  missive  in  which 
it  was  set  forth,  may  have  given  him  pain,  Hugh  would  soon 
find  consolation  in  the  smiles  of  Edith  Parapet. 

Some  people  are  very  much  swayed  by  what  they  deem  the 
inevitable  consequences  of  certain  romantic  juxtapositions  or  ac 
cidents  in  affairs  of  the  heart.  If  a  man  stops  a  runaway  steed, 
or  saves  a  woman  from  a  burning  house,  he  must  marry  the 
rescued  party  by  the  same  law  which  led  gallant  knights  of  old 
to  espouse  the  damsels  they  preserved  from  remorseless  tyrants. 
When  Gifford  leaped  overboard  and  sustained  Miss  Parapet  in 
the  yeasty  waves,  amid  which  she  was  cast  by  the  boom  of  the 
Ariadne,  the  Town  cried  out  at  once  for  a  match,  never  mind 
whether  well  or  ill  assorted  ;  never  mind  whether  the  lady  were 
a  Thompson  or  a  Parapet ;  never  mind  whether  the  gentleman 
were  plebeian  or  patrician.  The  eternal  fitness  of  things  demand 
ed,  in  any  event,  that  an  exception  should  be  made  rf  need  be, 
or  even  a  miracle  performed,  rather  than  that  a  bold  young  man 
who  had  saved  a  fair  young  maiden's  rife  should  not  earn  the 
right  to  make  it  happy  ever  after. 

Marian  fell  into  this  way  of  thinking  more  readily  than  if  she 
had  not  been  personally  interested  in  the  result.  She  could  not 
bear  to  think  of  being  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  poetical 
justice.  Perhaps  this  made  her  the  more  ready  than  she  should 
have  been  to  set  Gifford  free  by  bringing  their  engagement  to  a 


460  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OR, 

close.  At  the  same  time,  she  did  not  forget  that  Hugh  could, 
if  he  chose,  refuse  his  consent  to  such  an  abrogation.  If  he 
chose,  he  might  fly  to  her  side ;  .might  explain  away  what  seem 
ed  so  equivocal  in  the  speech  of  Edith  Parapet ;  might  renew 
his  vows  of  constancy.  But  were  he  disposed  to  take  such  a 
course  at  all,  he  would  take  it  at  once.  There  was  certainly 
nothing — ought  to  be  nothing — to  deliberate  about.  Either  her 
imputations,  and  the  deductions  to  which  they  pointed,  were 
sound  and  substantially  grounded,  or  they  were  not.  In  the  lat 
ter  case  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  reason  or  excuse  for  delay. 
In  the  former,  there  was  nothing  better  for  Hugh  to  do  than  to 
receive  her  letter  in  silence. 

Now  when  that  letter  arrived,  he  was  too  ill  even  to  open  it. 
There  was,  however  an  interval  between  the  time  of  its  coming 
and  the  access  of  delirium  when  he  read  it  through.  His  phy 
sician  had  directed  otherwise,  but  the  letters  had  been  laid  on 
his  dressing-table,  he  had  recognized  Marian's  hand,  ran  hastily 
through  the  contents  of  her  missive,  and,  all  weak  and  unstrung  as 
he  was,  he  had  sunk  on  the  bed  in  a  fainting  fit.  The  same 
evening  he  tried  to  write  a  reply,  failed,  and  at  midnight  was 
quite  out  of  his  head,  and  equally  incapable  of  either  writing  or 
thinking  at  all.  Marian  waited  for  three  miserable  days,  and 
then  quietly  signified  to  her  guardian  and  friend,  Mr.  Riving- 
stone,  her  willingness  to  comply  with  a  wish  expressed  by  him 
some  time  before,  to  expedite  the  business  which  he  was  con 
ducting  in  her  behalf,  by  a  visit  to  the  South.  But  although 
Hugh  felt  pained  by  Marian's  apparent  indifference  to  his  fate, 
he  was  too  profoundly  impressed  by  a  sense  of  his  own  unwor- 
thiness,  and  by  the  conviction  that  he  had  given  her  bitter  pro 
vocation,  to  question  the  justice  of  her  behavior.  It  was  his 
fault,  he  thought — as  the  merry  bells  pealed  forth,  and  awakened 
so  sad  a  response  in  his  heart — his  fault,  and  not  Marian's,  that 
they  were  not  pealing  for  his  own  happy  nuptials. 

He  found  a  melancholy  pleasure  in  pouring  his  self-reproaches 
into  the  ear  of  Luke  Armstrong.  Perhaps  he  had  some  subtle 
feeling  that  it  would  afford  Luke  satisfaction  to  know  how  un 
worthy  a  rival  Marian  had  preferred  to  himself.  Perhaps  he 
thought  it  a  sort  of  atonement  to  Marian  that  he  should  humbly 
and  unreservedly  confess  his  short  comings,  and,  with  many  a 
protestation  of  unalterable  and  devoted  love,  should  acknowl 
edge  his  un worthiness  to  be  loved  in  return. 

Luke  listened  gravely  to  all  this,  checking  the  speaker  when 
he  talked  too  much  or  became  over-excited,  and  occasionally 
putting  in  a  question  or  a  suggestion,  until  he  had  become 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  4G1 

thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  the  details  of  Gifford's  life  since 
he  had  left  Armstrong's  Bar.  It  seemed  to  him  so  utterly  in 
comprehensible,  that  a  man  blessed  with  the  love  of  such  a 
creature  as  Marian  should  neglect  or  undervalue  it,  that  the 
whole  discussion  had  something  of  the  interest  for  him  which 
would  have  attached  to  some  curious  psychological  problem. 

Finally,  one  day — he  felt  there  was  no  indelicacy  in  the  step 
with  such  a  man  and  such  a  friend  as  Luke — Hugh  gave  him  her 
last  letter  to  read,  together  with  his  own  attempted  reply,  a  bro 
ken,  incoherent  fragment  enough,  which  he  found  folded  within 
the  other,  although  he  had  not  the  faintest  recollection  of  having 
placed  it  there.  It  was  something  like  this : 

"lam  ill — ill,  dearest  Marian,  and  your  letter  falls  on  my 
brain  like  words  of  fire.  You  may  be  unable  to  believe  that 
what  was  said  surprised  me  ...  as  well  as  yourself.  Weak  I 
have  been  .  .  .  vain,  foolish  .  .  .  but  not  such  a  mean,  despi 
cable  wretch — not  a  liar,  nor  yet  a  hypocrite.  Ah,  my  darling, 
the  gold,  the  wretched  gold,  which  stood  between  us  like  a  mock 
ing  shadow,  poisoning  love,  and  forbidding  happiness,  is  taken 
from  me  now !  I  am  poor  again,  Marian  ...  a  mere,  house 
less,  penniless  adventurer,  as  I  was  when  you  first  knew  me. 
Don't  ^hate  me  now.  I  am  again  become  what  I  was  when  you 
first  lo'ved  me.  Don't  turn  from  me  now  that  there's  no  money 
to  come  between  us.  Do  you  think  others  will  smile  upon, 
pity  or  comfort  a  poor  shattered  bankrupt,  only  because  you  cease 
to  do  so  ?  .  .  . 

"  I  see  you  again  on  the  prairie,  Marian!  .  .  with  your  glossy 
locks  flying  in  the  wind,  with  your  flashing  dark  eyes  all  alight 
with  the  love  of  freedom.  Fearless  as  Diana,  beautiful  as  Venus, 
untrammelled,  unchecked,  all  radiant  with  the  joy  of  a  new- 
gamed  liberty !  .  .  Long  before  I  knew  you  loved  me  ...  long 
before  we  heard  together  the  war-whoop  of  the  savage  .... 
before  we  saw  together  the  accursed  gleam  of  the  gold  .  .  .  Oh, 
my  own  one,  if  we  could  find  some  spot  where  money,  and  what 
they  call  society,  were  not,  we  might  yet  ...  do  not  desert,  but 
forgive  .  .  .  darling  .  .  forgive  ..." 

Then  there  were  a  few  feeble,  unintelligible  scratches,  and 
that  was  all.  It  was  much  the  kind  of  incoherency  that  Hugh 
had  uttered  in  his  delirium.  Luke  read  it  over  steadily  twice, 
and  then  his  eyes  filled,  and  one  drop  fell  upon  the  paper,  adding 
another  to  several  misty  blurs  which  were  there  already.  Some 
men.  so  circumstanced,  in  reading  such  a  correspondence,  would 
have  felt  anger — some  self-pity — some  a  not  uupleasing  contempt. 


402  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;    OR, 

What  Luke  felt,  I  will  not  say,  but  leave  it  to  be  judged  by  his 
actions. 

Soon  after  the  wedding,  after  he  had  seen  the  bride  all  blush 
ing  in  a  new  white  bonnet,  a  delicate  blue  watered-silk,  and  a 
snowy  china-crape  shawl ;  after  he  had  seen  the  bridegroom, 
more  shamefaced  than  Kitty,  with  a  new  shining  beaver,  con 
tinually  dropped  about  the  floor,  and  a  glossy  suit  of  black 
broad-cloth — Gifford,  to  the  alarm  and  anxiety  of  all  at  the 
homestead,  had  a  relapse. 

Luke  had  gone  to  New  York  on  some  matter  of  business,  so 
that  the  task  of  watching  devolved  chiefly  upon  his  father  and 
Ike.  The  doctor  was  with  his  patient  during  most  of  the  day, 
but  he  had  undertaken  to  attend  to  some  others,  to  visit  whom 
he  must  traverse  long  distances  by  country  roads,  so  that  at 
night  he  was  obliged  to  get  sleep.  However,  Seth  was  a  con 
scientious  watcher,  and  his  helpmate  the  best  of  nurses,  while, 
since  his  bereavement,  Ike's  affections  seemed  to  have  fastened 
themselves  upon  Hugh  with  more  adhesiveness  than  ever.  Thus 
although  Luke  was  absent,  as  well  as  his  sister  and  her  husband, 
there  was  no  danger  of  the  invalid  being  neglected. 

Hugh  suffered  from  no  want  of  care,  medical  or  auxiliary,  but 
he  had  been  very  much  weakened  by  the  previous  violence  of 
the  disease.  He  was  sadly  emaciated,  and  when  Doctor  Lan- 
dale  found  that  the  fever  had  really  come  back  with  much  of  its 
old  fury,  he,  for  the  first  time,  felt  grave  apprehensions. 

When  Luke  returned,  after  less  than  a  week's  absence,  he  was 
horrified  to  see  the  change.  Again  the  struggle  was  renewed 
between  the  forces  of  youth  and  vigor  and  those  of  death  and 
decay.  For  many  a  long  summer  night  did  Luke  and  Ike  sit  up 
anxiously  watching  the  progress  of  the  battle.  For  many  a  long 
summer  day  did  the  doctor  glide  in  and  out  of  the  darkened 
room,  taxing  to  the  uttermost  every  resource  of  his  skill  to  rein 
force  the  vitality  which  was  put  to  so  fearfully  exhausting  a 
strain. 

Hour  after  hour  did  Ike  sit,  solemnly  studying  the  sick  man's 
movements,  ready  to  give  him  drink,  to  turn  his  pillows,  or  to 
summon  help  as  the  case  might  be.  Ike's  brain  was  clearer  now 
than  it  had  ever  been  before,  but  he  found,  it  hard,  as  he  sat 
with  his  red  hair  brushed  smoothly  behind  his  ears,  and  his 
hands  folded  meekly  before  him,  to  understand  why  it  was  that 
a  man  who  had  craved  for  a  thing  so  earnestly 'as  Hugh  Gifford 
had  craved  for  gold,  and  who  had  had  his  aspirations  so  abund 
antly  gratified,  should  have  been  made  so  prostrate  and  miser 
able,  so  abject  and  dying,  even,  as  there  was  so  great  cause  to 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  463 

fear,  as  the  only  tangible  fruit  of  his  good  fortune.  Why,  if 
Heaven  had  but  seen  fit  to  preserve  the  life  of  poor  Lion,  Ike 
thought,  for  his  part,  he  would  have  been  sufficiently  happy ! 

And  Luke  sat  and  pondered  too,  after  his  fashion  ;  ponder 
ed  on  the  strangeness  of  the  dispensation  by  which  Providence 
had  vouchsafed — not  money,  he  cared  little  for  that — but  such 
advantages  of  reading  and  knowledge  and  wisdom,  and  to  be 
crowned  by  the  love  of  an  angel,  a  veiy  angel  upon  earth,  such 
as  Hugh  Gifford  had  enjoyed,  only  to  bring  him  to  such  a  sad 
plight  of  suffering  and  hopelessness  as  this  I  Ah !  if  Marian 
could  only  have  loved  him  !  But  it  was  a  selfish  thought,  and 
Luke  thrust  it  manfully  from  him.  He  had  that  to  do  with 
which  the  indulgence  of  such  a  thought  was  incompatible. 

The  crisis  came  at  last,  and  youth  and  vigor  once  more  won 
the  victory.  It  was  after  the  harvests  were  gathered,  at  the 
season  when  Hugh  had  played  his  little  comedy  with  Virginia 
Chester,  that  the  fever  was  once  more  expelled  from  his  wearied 
frame,  and  the  sufferer  felt  slowly  but  surely  that  reviving  elasti 
city  which  braces  the  nerves  and  lightens  the  heart  with  the  ap 
proach  of  convalescence.  Life  was  spared ;  but  he  had  been 
near  enough  to  the  Dark  Valley  to  feel  its  damps — near  enough 
never  thenceforth  to  forget  its  sombre  but  salutary  teachings. 


CHAPTER  V. 

IT  was  the  fall  of  the  leaf.  The  yellow  corn  was  all  ravished 
from  the  fields,  which  looked  desolate  and  pitiful  in  their  naked 
ness.  The  foliage,  shredded  from  the  trees,  flew  hither  and 
thither,  flecking  the  roads  and  hedges  with  patches  of  crimson, 
of  purple,  and  of  gold.  The  bleak  winds,  forerunning  the  ap 
proach  of  winter,  came  singing  and  moaning  in  from  the  ocean, 
and  lingered  about  the  gables  and  roof-points  of  the  old  home 
stead,  and  whispered  among  the  denuded  elms  as  if  greeting  so 
many  old  acquaintances  there.  And  the  glassy,  placid  Sound 
was  angry  and  ruffled  at  last,  bearing  in  ceaselessly,  as  it  did, 
from  the  main  "  the  sea's  swift  fringe  of  foaming  lace." 

The  hush  of  repose  which  had  so  long  brooded  over  the  place 
while  Gifford  was  passing  through  his  wrestle  with  disease  was 
blown  away  by  the  autumn  gales,  and  the  color  came  back  to  his 


464  MARIAN  ROOKE;  OK, 

cheek  while  the  rosy  apples  were  tumbling  from  their  branches, 
and  the  barns  were  puffing  out  with  their  harvests,  and  the  sail 
in  the  offing  bowed  lower  and  lower  to  sharp  gusts  from  the 
darkening  east. 

But  what  cared  they  at  the  homestead  1  Ample  store  had 
they  in  abundance,  and  more  than  enough  for  charity.  For  in 
that  neighborhood,  although  the  soil  be  sterile,  and  the  seasons 
sometimes  bitter,  free  schools  are  many  and  labor  dear ;  so  that 
beggary  is  pleasantly  rare,  and  the  low  plea  for  food  which,  to 
unused  ears,  gives  such  a  sound  of  shame,  is  almost  unheard, 
save  now  and  then  from  some  chance  old-world  wanderer,  who, 
by  a  cruel  mistake,  has  set  his  face  toward  the  rising,  instead  of 
toward  the  setting,  sun. 

What  cared  they  at  the  homestead?  Notwithstanding  their 
independence,  long  custom  had  made  a  measure  of  toil  rather 
sweet  to  them  than  otherwise,  and,  for  all  their  money  in  bank 
and  their  hired  laborers  on  the  farm,  they  had  fairly  earned  ease 
and  jollity  for  the  winter,  by  working  with  a  will  through  the 
summer.  And  Hugh,  whose  state  had  been  the  cloud  which 
dimmed  the  cheery  sunlight  of  their  recovered  home,  was  nearly 
well  now,  so  that  apprehension  for  his  sake  was  thought  of  no  more. 

And  sounds  of  laughter  were  heard  about  the  house.  It  was 
not  a  house  to  shake,  as  many  are  said  to  do,  with  such  sounds. 
Although  built  in  America,  it  was  too  solid  for  that — like  some 
other  things  built  there,  which  transatlantic  prejudice  would  lain 
believe  both  fragile  and  ephemeral.  You  might  laugh  in  it,  shout  in 
it,  play  blind-man's-buff  in  it,  almost  trot  your  horse  up  stairs  with 
out  doing  more  damage  than  to  set  the  venerable  timbers  creaking. 
It  was  built  by  strong  arms,  as  their  name  betokened.  It  was  not 
built  for  along  lease,  as  some  English  houses  are  said  to  be, which, 
at  the  expiration  of  ninety-nine  years,  will  almost  punctually  rattle 
down  of  themselves,  like  so  many  castles  of  cards.  There  are  some 
exceptions  to  received  rules  ;  there  are  such  things  as  flimsy  struc 
tures  in  the  Old  World,  and  such  things  as  substantial  structures 
in  the  New,  and  Armstrong  homestead  was  one  of  them. 

May  be  the  savor  of  sturdiness  about  the  old  place  did  some 
thing  toward  making  a  strong  man  again  of  our  hero.  There  is 
a  sense  of  security  which  is  reassuring  in  itself  when  the  floors 
do  not  rattle  and  shiver  under  one's  foot,  and  the  whole  house 
hold  is  not  advertised  when  one  crosses  a  room.  And  when 
Hugh  first  went  down  the  firm  staircase,  flanked  on  the  landings 
by  certain  images  of  dead-and-gone  agriculturists,  the  like  of 
which  he  had  never  seen  before,  and  came  into  the  low  cozy  par 
lor,  where  Mrs.  Armstrong  and  Kitty  had  just  been  putting  up 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  4G5 

red  curtains,  and  where  a  snug  little  fire  was  throwing  ruddy 
rays  on  unheard-of  treasures  of  china  and  patchwork,  he  cer 
tainly  felt  better  for  the  solid  character  of  all  that  he  saw  and 
felt  around  him. 

It  was  evening,  and  the  skies  and  fields  looked  rather  sad  as 
Hugh  gazed  at  them  through  the  small  panes  of  the  windows. 
But  there  was  a  gaiety  within  which  made  amends,  for  the  fami 
ly  had  assembled  to  give  their  guest  a  greeting  on  the  occasion 
of  his  first  descending  among  them  since  his  illness ;  and  they 
determined  to  give  the  gathering  as  far  as  possible  the  character 
of  a  merry-making.  The  Doctor  was  there,  with  his  hard  Scotch 
face  wreathed  in  congratulatory  smiles,  and  Kitty  was  laughing 
and  showing  her  white  teeth,  and  Mrs.  Armstrong  was  beaming 
and  quivering  over  her  spectacles,  as  if  there  were  no  such  cares 
as  the  possession  of  superabundant  patchwork  and  china  entailed 
in  the  world.  And  Seth  stroked  Hugh's  delicate  fingers  in  his 
great  horny  hand,  as  if  it  had  been,  what  indeed  it  looked  like, 
a  woman's  ;  while  Dick  Railes,  promoted  to  his  dignity  of  Ben 
edict,  regarded  him  with  a  half-superior,  half-reverential  affec 
tion,  which  could  hardly  have  been  exceeded  if  he  had  been  a 
theodolite. 

On  Luke's  face  alone  there  was  a  trace  of  anxiety  and  thought, 
a  look  which  betokened,  if  not  distrust,  solicitude  as  to  some 
thing  to  come.  Luke  was  weary  perhaps.  He  had  had  much 
to  do  of -late.  A  great  deal  of  the  head-work  of  the  farm  de 
volved  on  him ;  and  as,  when  it  was  purchased,  it  was  but  imper 
fectly  stocked  and  supplied,  he  had  been  often  not  only  to  large 
towns  near  at  hand,  but  also  to  the  metropolis,  to  make  his  pur 
chases.  Only  that  very  morning  he  had  come  from  New  York, 
and  his  honest  face  showed  signs,  as  has  been  said,  of  anxiety  and, 
fatigue. 

But  he  had  been  at  home  in  time  to  give  Hugh  an  arm  down 
stairs  ;  to  see  his  easy-chair  comfortably  placed  by  the  chimney 
corner  ;  to  help  to  raise  the  joyous  shout  of  welcome  when  the 
invalid  made  his  appearance  in  the  parlor  ;  and  to  rejoice  with 
heartfelt  satisfaction  when  he  saw  that  the  evidences  of  returning 
vigor  were  genuine,  and  not  like  to  be,  as  they  had  been  before, 
deceptive  and  transitory. 

Presently  Ike  came  in,  and  went  up  and  shook  hands  with 
Hugh,  with  a  smile  very  different  from  what  used  to  come  on 
his  face  long  ago  ;  and  it  looked  as  strange  to  the  others  as  it  did 
to  Hugh,  for  it  was  the  first  that  had  been  seen  there  since  the 
day  that  Lion  died. 

The  skies  grew  darker  and  darker  as  the  sun  went  down,  and 


466  MARIAN   BOOKE  ;     OR, 

the  rays  from  the  little  fire  grew  redder  and  redder.  Tea  was 
brought  in,  with  a  plenitude  of  those  mysterious  dishes  which  in 
New  England  are  wedded  to  it ;  but  as  yet  no  candles.  The 
company  laughed,  and  chatted,  and  joked,  and  Kitty  skipped 
through  the  folding-doors,  and  came  back  after  a  little  while  with 
a  slice  of  her  wedding-cake,  which  Mr.  Gifford  must  eat,  doctor 
or  no  doctor.  There  were  as  yet  no  candles,  or  it  might  have 
been  seen  that  Kitty's  cheeks  were  strangely  flushed,  and  her 
blue  eyes  wet,  as  though  something  had  happened  to  excite 
her  by  the  way. 

"It  seems  so  curus, "  said  Seth,  through  the  twilight,  "socurus, 
and  yet  so  nateral,  that  we  should  all  be  brought  together  again. 
It  looks  as  though  it  had  been  allowed  we  was  to  live  together 
allers,  and  not  to  part  at  all.  It  looks  as  though,  do  what  we 
might,  we  was  to  fetch  together,  in  the  long  run,  jest  like  the 
mercoory  and  the  gold  at  the  bottom  of  a  pan." 

"  You  being  the  gold,  and  I  the  quicksilver,"  said  Hugh,  with 
a  faint  smile. 

"No,"  returned  the  old  man,  "exceptin'  in  one  sense  perhaps, 
that  you've  done  a  sight  to  clear  us  away  from  the  dirt.  I  don't 
know  much  myself,  not  havin'  been  brought  up  among  the  eddi- 
cated ;  but  I  know  that  the  schools  and  the  teachin'  air  what'll 
make  us  great  and  free — and,  please  God,  keep  us  so.  And  I 
know  that  our  folks  here — our  Luke  and  our  Kitty — both  on  'em 
bless  'em — and  even  rough  Dick,  who  used  to  be  stubborn  and 
sarsy — air  all  better  and  happier  for  bein'  with  you  and  the 
Doctor,  and — and — Mary  Anne." 

He  pronounced  the  last  name  with  a  sort  of  compunction — 
with  an  apologetic  accent  that  might  have  been  attributed  to 
various  motives.  Hugh  did  not  pause  to  try  to  select  any  par 
ticular  one,  but,  like  Kitty,  he  reddened  invisibly  in  the  dark 
ness,  and  said : 

"  Heaven  knows,  good  friend,  I  had  more  to  learn  from  you 
than  you  from  me.  Steadiness,  patience,  content — in  the  place 
and  with  the  gifts  I  had  been  blessed  withal — all  these  was  I 
sadly  deficient  in — all  these  might  I  have  learned  from  you,  who 
had  them  abundantly.  But  I  was  proud — proud,  vain,  and 
blind, — believing  that  I  could  teach,  indeed,  but  not  learn — and 
the  result  is  well  deserved." 

"  Stuff,  man  !  "  grunted  the  Doctor.  "  You're  not  more  than 
half  out  of  your  tantrums  yet.  What  have  pride,  vanity,  and 
blindness  to  do  with  the  failure  of  Irigott  and  Gollop  ?  You've 
had  a  vein  of  ill-luck,  that's  all.  If  you  had  been  Moses  and 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  4G7 

Solomon,  rolled  into  one,  von  couldn't  have  kept  a  couple  of 
rascally  contractors  from  tailing!" 

"  Or  Pangburn  from  robbing  our  strong  box,"  laughed  Hugh. 
' '  Xow  it  appears  to  me  that  the  prudence  and  foresight  we  all 
lacked  in  that  matter  have  been — although  in  a  greater  degree — 
my  deficiencies  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  Bnt  I  doubt  if  my 
last  betrayers  ever  seek  to  make  them  up  as  that  extraordinary 
being,  the  first,  has  done." 

When  Hugh  was  well  enough  to  be  trusted  with  his  letters. 
he  had  found  among  them  some  which  excited  very  opposite 
emotions.  Those  of  condolence  were  few  ;  two  from  Clinton 
Parapet,  who  was  most  anxious  to  come  to  him,  and  who  beg 
ged  Hugh  to  command  his  purse,  or  anything  that  was  his, 
without  stint ;  and  one  from  Eldon  Clyde,  offering,  if  nothing 
better  presented,  to  get  him  a  place  on  the  staff  of  a  very  respec 
table  newspaper  at  Albany.  There  was  a  communication  from 
Mr.  Doke.  urging  an  assignment  or  some  other  provision  for 
the  payment  of  a  large  balance,  which  he  afiirmed  he  had  paid 
to  different  ward  politicians  for  keeping  Giffbrd's  name  before 
their  constituencies,  and  paying  for  unlimited  whiskey  on 
account  of  the  same  for  caucus  nights.  But  the  letter  which 
gave  Hugh  most  surprise  was  from  no  other  than  the  redoubt 
able  Pangburn  himself.  It  was  dated  from  Palmyra,  and  from 
the  context  it  would  appear  that  the  writer  had  prospered  enor 
mously.  After  a  general  expression  of  sorrow  for  Hugh's  mis 
fortunes,  which  he  said  '-afflicted  him  the  wuss  as  bein'  them  of 
an  old  pard,"  and  after  a  remarkable  passage  wherein  he  con 
trasted  Hugh's  improvidence  and  folly  with  his  own  wit  and 
sagacity.  Mr.  Paugburu  added  a  mysterious  calculation,  which 
would  have  puzzled  Cocker  and  Colburn  together  to  understand. 
Toward  the  end  appeared  a  statement  of  a  sum  which,  after  pro 
found  reflection,  Hugh  decided  was  intended  to  represent  the 
principal  and  interest  of  his  share  of  what  the  writer  had  ab 
stracted  from  Armstrong's  Bar ;  and  the  letter  concluded  with  an 
intimation  that  if  he  would  like  to  have  this  sum/br  a  loan,  tak 
ing  his  own  or  an  indefinite  time  for  its  payment,  Mr.  Pangburn 
would  send  a  negotiable  check  there  for.  on  receipt  of  ad  vise  to  that 
effect.  On  the  whole,  it  appeared  that  Zelotes  was  really  desirous  to 
do  an  act  of  justice  and  atonement,  but  in  such  a  manner  that  he 
might  avoid  responsibility  to  other  claimants  ;  and  he  evinced 
his  sincerity,  when  Hugh,  after  consideration,  wrote  him  word 
that  he  icould  like  to  receive  the  sum  in  question,  by  sending 
the  check  by  return  of  post. 

u  We're  very  lucky  so  far  as  that's  concerned,"  said  the  Doo 


468  MARIAN  ROOKE;   OR, 

tor,  "  no  doubt  the  rascal  owns  whole  streets  of  stone-front 
blocks  by  this  time,  bringing  him  12  per  cent,  with  the  greatest 
ease ;  and  if  we  lose  our  little  fortunes,  he'll  doubtless  offer  us 
all  '  loans'  in  like  manner !" 

"  I  don't  know  that  I'd  mind  much  what  he  called  it,"  observ- . 
ad  Seth,  sagely,  "so  long  as  he  paid  the  money." 

"  That  is  to  say,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  he  may  keep  his  charac 
ter  if  he'll  disgorge  our  dollars.  I've  known  many  small  rascals, 
what  you  may  call  retailers  of  their  consciences,  selling  small  bits 
for  small  profits,  but  he  was  the  most  delicious,  wholesale  scoundrel 
I  everstumbled  upon." 

"  Ah,"  murmured  Mrs.  Armstrong  plaintively,  "he  was  such 
a  good  judge  of  patchwork  and  chiny!" 

"  I've  often  thought,  "continued  Seth,  "  how  won'erfully  we  all 
got  our  wishes  jest  as  we  sot  round  and  wished  for  'em  three 
years  ago.  1  recolleck  the  Doctor  put  it  to  me  one  Saturday 
night  as  we  was  all  gathered  together  to  know  what,  most  of 
anything,  I  ambitioned." 

"  And  your  answer  was  a  very  modest  one,"  laughed  the 
Doctor,  "  at  least  your  first  answer;  do  you  remember  itf 

"  A  wood  roof  d  be  slicker'n  a  cotton  one,  and  a  nice  barn 
with  stalls  is  a  sight  better'n  a  corral,"  quoted  Dick  Railes,  with 
great  accuracy. 

"  But  arterwards,"  said  Seth,  "I  made  a  larger  mouth;  rather 
I  said  if  I  was  awful  lucky  I'd  like  to  spend  my  old  age  on  the 
Blueberry  Hill  Farm,  at  Old  Saybrook,  where  my  grandfather's 
bones  is,  my  father  havin'  bad  luck  and  bein'  obleeged  to  sell 
when  I  was  a  little  shaver.  Them  was  my  words.  But  I  never 
tho't,  I  allow,  that  they'd  come  actooally  true." 

"You  said  something  else,  Uncle  Seth,"  said  Hugh,  "  which 
you  don't  repeat,  but  which  was  of  more  consequence  than  aught 
else.  You  said  you  were  always  content  with  what  Providence 
saw  fit  to  send,  and  that  you  were  not  going  to  begin  to  be  a 
grumbler  now.  You  said,  too,  with  reference  to  our  adventure 
on  the  Plains,  that,  aside  from  having  a  roof,  we  ought  to  be 
grateful  for  having  heads  safe  and  sound  to  put  under  it,  and  that, 
for  one,  you  were  willing  to  rest  and  be  thankful." 

"And  I  grumbled  and  found  fault  that  you  wouldn't  tote  six 
bureaus-full  of  linen  fixings  and  chiny  and  patchwork  across  the 
plains,"  put  in  Mrs.  Armstrong,  penitently,  "which  wasn't  very 
Christian-like  o'  me,  let  alone  if  ye  had,  I'dproberly  never  had  'em 
here  at  home  safe  and  sound,  nor  yit  had  'em  at  all !" 

"  As  to  Pangburn,"  proceeded  Seth,  continuing  his  reminis- 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  4G9 

cences,  "  he  wanted  a  stone-front  block  in  Utica,  and  I  spose  he's 
got  it." 

"  And  Mr.  Gifford  wanted  to  be  rich  enough  to  go  and  travel 
in  Europe,"  cried  Kitty,  "and  lie  did  it  !" 

'•What  was  your  wish,  Dick?"  asked  the  Doctor;  "do  you  re 
member  it  ?" 

"  I  reckon  :  a  good  double-barr'l,  a  good  dog,  a  good  house, 
and  a  good  horse,  play-day  half  the  time,  and  a — a  pooty  gal  to 
help  me  enjoy  it  I"  replied  Dick,  with  more  promptness  perhaps 
than  he  would  have  exhibited  by  daylight. 

"And  Luke  tho't  if  he  could  hev  his  tune  he'd  like  to  get  some 
books  and  read,  and  study  for  a  year  or  two,"  said  Seth,  with 
pride,  <;  and  sure  enough  he  has  I  So  that  we  can  see,  as  I  said 
afore,  how  won'erfully  all  our  wishes  has  come  to  us  jest  as  we 
sot  around  and  wished  for  'em  three  year  ago  !" 

"All except  the  Doctor's,"  cried  Kitty,  archly.  "Don't  you 
remember,  Doctor — '  A  cottage  on  the  Clyde,  with  many  friends 
and  few  patients  ;  with  a  pretty  view,  and  enough  to  feel  easy 
without  being  rich  ?'  " 

"  I've  got  all  but  the  first  item,  Miss  Kitty,"  retorted  the  Doc 
tor,  ' '  and  can  have  that  when  I  like  ;  so  my  shortcoming  needn't 
be  set  against  the  unanimity  of  our  good  luck." 

"Shan't  we  say  of  our  good  Blessings,  rather,"  said  Seth,  seri 
ously,  '•  for  it  seems  to  me  when  folks  are  made  so  happy  as  we 
air,  when  prosperity  comes  to  'em  that  their  own  good  works 
never  deserved,  when  each  particular  wish,  even,  comes  true  more 
than  often  it  does  in  a  fairy  story  ;  it  seems  to  me  that  there's 
somethin'  better'n  luck  about  it.  and  that  we  ought  to  recognize 
and  be  grateful  to  a  generous  Providence." 

"  Right,  Seth,"  quoth  the  Doctor;  "  we  are  over-apt  to  credit 
a  blind  and  heathen  idol  for  what  we  ought  to  give  praise  to  an 
All-seeing  and  Beneficent  Ruler." 

"And  Uncle  Seth  has  a  right  to  remind  us  of  the  omission." 
said  Hugh,  '•  since  he  thought  of  it,  and  recognized  it  when  none 
of  us  did  in  his  first  aspiration, — the  truest  and  wisest  aspiration 
after  all,  the  one  that  taught  the  best  lesson  philosophy  has  to 
teach,  contentment  and  resignation." 

A  faint  sigh  came  from  the  window  where  Luke  stood  watch 
ing  the  blackening  shadows,  and  a  moan  of  the  wind  answered 
from  without  as  it  thrilled  through  the  lonesome  branches  of  the 
elms.  Kitty  threw  more  fagots  on  the  fire,  audit  blazed  up  and 
set  half-a-dozen  weird  figures  dancing  on  the  opposite  walls  and 
ceiling. 

"  I'd  no  idee,"  said  Seth  Armstrong,  softly,  "  that  a  man  so 


470  MARIAN    ROOKE  ;     OR. 

poor  and  ignorant  as  me  could  teach  anything  wuth  knowing  to 
folks  well  eddicated,  and  up  to  all  that  books  could  teach  'em. 
But  I  s'pose  God  has  uses  for  all,  even  the  humblest  of  us,  and 
I'm  sure  it  makes  me  very  happy  to  think  that  even  onkijowingly 
I've  been  put  to  any." 

"The  humblest  I"  echoed  Hugh  GifFord  ;  u  even  they  or -those 
who  think  themselves  so,  are  evermore  His  chosen  instruments. 
Even  they,  in  His  good  time,  are  exalted,  while  the  proud  and 
vain  are  cast  down.  Surely  we  have  an  instance  here  which  can 
not  be  gainsaid.  Of  all  our  party  that  crossed  the  Plains,  I  was 
at  once  the  least  deserving  and  the  most  expecting.  When  your 
hopes  were  lowly,  mine  were  presumptuously  high.  While  you 
were  content  with  little,  happy  with  what  Heaven  saw  fit  to 
send,  I  was  dissatisfied  with  much,  and  fretted  for  more  than 
either  my  talent  or  my  virtues  made  me  worthy  to  receive,  or 
fitted  me  usefully  to  employ.  My  aspirations  were  answered  at 
last,  but  to  what  end  '?  Behold  the  sequel !  To  you  who  asked 
for  so  little,  abundance  is  given,  in  the  full  confidence  of  a  faith 
ful  stewardship.  Abundance  was  also  bestowed  upon  me,  and, 
alas  !  for  what  purpose  ?  That  I  might  show,  beyond  the  cavil 
of  even  my  own  proud  and  exacting  nature,  how  greatly  I  had 
overrated  my  own  strength  of  mind,  how  unworthy  I  was  of  the 
trust  to  which  I  had  aspired  !" 

"  Not  unworthy,"  murmured  Luke,   "  but  unfortunate." 

"  Unworthy.  We  may  trifle  with  our  own  future — our  own 
health,  mental  or  physical — our  own  happiness,  in  a  word,  if  we 
will,  and  be  debited  alone  for  misfortune  or  imprudence  ;  but  we 
have  no  right  to  trifle  with  those  of  others;  and  when  we  do  so, 
our  conduct  is  unworthy,  and  no  gentler  word  may  fairly  describe 
it." 

"And  admitting  the  propriety  of  all  this  self-castigation,"said 
the  Doctor,  cheerfully,  "  let  us  finish  the  picture.  You  have 
dealt  literally  with  the  shadows,  let  us  now  put  in  the  lights. 
I'm  nearly  twice  your  age,  and  claim  the  privilege  to  use  a  free 
pencil.  You  have  had  a  bit  of  experience  which  will  serve  you 
all  your  life.  Whatever  injustice  you  may  have  done  to  others, 
you  are  young  enough,  and  ought  to  be  good  enough,  to  atone 
for.  You  have  youth,  talent,  experience,  as  we  have  seen ;  soon 
will  have  health  and  strength  ;  you  have  friends  whom  poverty 
won't  alienate,  even  were  there  danger  of  it,  which  there  isn't. 
In  a  word,  you  have  all  before  you  which  a  reasonable  man  ought 
to  expect  or  hope  for  to  make  him  happy." 

"No,  not  all." 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  471 

"Not  all?  Then  you're  not  truly  repentant,  and  you're  as 
difficult  to  please  as  ever !" 

"  Truly,"  said  Seth,  warmly,  "  I  think  you  ought  now  to  be 
content." 

"  And  so  do  I !"  "  And  I!"  "  And  I  !"  went  in  a  strange  in 
visible  chorus  round  the  little  circle.  Only  one  voice  was  silent, 
but  it  was  not  from  dissent. 

"Alas!"  said  Hugh,  mournfully,  "that  opinion  should  be  so 
unanimous  against  me.  But  I  must  resist  it  still." 

4*Tell  us,  then/'  pursued  the  Doctor,  "tell  us,  oh!  most 
exacting  of  men,  what  is  needed  to  make  you  happy — to  fill  the 
measure  of  your  joy  ?" 

"One  thing,"  answered  Hugh,  "to  name  which  is  to  prove 
that  I  ask  less — hope  less  than  of  yore.  One  thing — forgive 
ness  !" 

And  a  sweet,  solemn  voice  repeated  the  word  as  Kitty  gently 
opened  the  folding-doors  and  let  in  a  flood  of  light — 

"  If  it  will  make  you  happier,  you  have  it,  Hugh !" 

Oh,  moment  of  ecstasy!  Oh,  forgetfulness  of  all  past  tears, 
sickness,  and  misery !  Oh,  joy  never  felt  before,  even  in  the 
first  consciousness  of  requited  love  ! 

Marian  was  in  his  arms — nestling  there — closer,  closer,  never 
to  be  parted  more. 

And  every  face  was  alight  with  pleasure,  and  every  tongue 
musical  with  congratulation,  except  Luke's.  And  Luke's  lace 
was  hidden  in  the  curtain  of  the  window ;  and  he  could  not,  for 
his  life,  have  made  his  tongue  at  that  moment  other  than  it  was 
— speechless.  But  he  lived  a  lifetime  in  those  moments  that 
Gifford  and  Marian  stood  locked  in  that  intoxicating  embrace — 
and  when  they  looked  around  for  him,  he  had  glided  noiselessly 
away,  none  knew  whither.  Had  they  sought,  they  would  have 
found  him  lying  under  the  stars  on  the  bench  he  had  built  in  the 
grove  of  pines — the  bench  which  replaced  the  one  he  had  made 
for  Marian  at  Armstrong's  Bar. 

It  was  all  owing  to  Luke.  He  had  never  ceased  to  strive 
until  he  opened  communication  with  Marian,  until  he  had  finally 
seen  her,  and,  in  his  own  way  and  at  his  own  time,  told  her  all. 
He  told  her  of  Hugh's  misfortunes,  his  illness,  and  of  his  repent 
ance,  of  how  he*  had  continually  talked  of  her  in  his  delirium, 
charging  himself  with  destroying  her  happiness  as  well  as  his 
own.  Of  how,  when  reason  returned,  he  still  talked  in  the 
same  strain,  in  words  which  none  could  hear  without  believing 
that  they  flowed  from  a  fervent  and  undying  love.  Finally,  he 


472  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

had  given  her  Hugh's  letter — the  incoherent  letter  he  had  written 
but  did  not  send — in  reply  to  her  own  ;  and  Luke  saw  in  Marian's 
face,  when  she  read  the  blurry  scrawl,  that  she  would  not  refuse 
what  he  besought  her  to  do — to  accompany  him  to  the  old  home 
stead. 

Not  all  men  would  have  behaved  thus.  Luke  acted  as  he  did 
because  he  was  Luke  ;  and  if  there  are  any  who  think  his  action 
was  vain  or  incredible,  that  it  brought  him  no  reward,  or  that 
people  never  do  such  things  in  this  selfish  world  of  ours,  I  have 
only  to  say  that  they  have  never  known  Luke  Armstrong. 

Marian  and  Hugh  were  married — of  course.  And  they  were 
happier,  far  happier  than  they  would  have  been  had  the  heyday 
of  then*  wooing  never  been  darkened  by  a  cloud.  The  Influence 
for  good  which  Marian  exerted  upon  all  who  came  near  her  was 
the  stronger  with  Hugh  now  that  he  had  felt  its  need;  now  that 
a  sharp  but  salutary  experience  had  admonished  him  that  he  was 
not  sufficient  unto  himself ;  that  his  character  manifestly  required, 
irrespective  of  the  tender  promptings  of  love,  that  aid  in  its 
proper  development,  which  a  strong,  affectionate,  truth-seeing 
and  truth-loving  woman,  like  Marian  Rooke,  is  so  well  fitted  to 
bestow. 

And  Hugh  was  not  so  proud  now  as  to  be  unwilling  to  accept 
the  little  fortune  which  Marian  was  able  to  bring  him.  He  had 
learned  to  know  that  to  be  behoven  to  those  we  love  is  not 
altogether  a  one-sided  transaction  ;  and  that  there  are  occasions 
in  life  when  it  is  at  least  as  graceful  to  receive  as  it  is  to  give. 
Therefore  he  was  not  displeased  when  he  heard  that  her  father's 
faithful  friend — and  her  own — had  succeeded  in  recovering  a 
considerable  sum  which  had  been  bequeathed  to  her  by  will, 
but  which  the  ingenuity  of  interested  parties  had  enabled  them 
hitherto  to  withhold.  Hugh  was  comparatively  poor,  and  Marian 
comparatively  rich ;  and,  on  the  whole,  it  was  perhaps  better, 
since  discrepancy  there  must  be,  that  it  should  lie  in  this 
direction. 

Hugh  resumed  his  old  profession,  and  labored  at  it  manfully, 
strenuously,  and  in  good  time  profitably.  No  doubt  it  strikes 
him  now  and  then,  that  to  be  a  lawyer  in  a  country  town  is  not 

Siite  so  splendid  as  to  be  a  member  of  Congress  for  the th 
istrict,  even  with  Salathiel  Doke  as  chief  fugleman.     But  he 
is  pressing  steadily  onwards,  and  I  should  not' be  in  the  least 
surprised  if  he  reached  such  a  distinction  at  last,  without  the 
disadvantage  or  the  expense  of  so  questionable  an  ally. 

Nobody  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  Clinton  Parapet  ran 
away  with  Flora  Dimity.  The  blue-eyed  fairy  proved  too  much 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FORTUNE.  473 

for  him  after  all,  and  the  escutcheon  of  the  family  has  a 
cotton  cross,  which  it  is  to  be  feared  the  stately  lady  at  its 
head  will  never  either  forget  or  forgive.  When  I  heard  of  this 
shocking  casualty,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  ceased  to  envy 
Mr.  Parapet,  senior.  The  calm,  luxurious  ease  of  his  existence, 
with  its  wealth  of  books  and  pictures  and  statues,  and  free 
dom  from  public  cares  as  from  private  straits,  no  longer  seemed 
so  delightful.  The  ladies  kept  up  a  dignified  silence.  Their 
expressions  became  more  distant,  more  pervaded  with  hauteur, 
than  ever.  Their  noses  became  more  aquiline,  and  the  curl 
of  then*  chiselled  lips  more  pronounced.  They  ceased  to 
appear  at  balls  of  equivocal  ton,  and  became  more  than 
ever  inaccessible  and  exclusive.  As  a  consequence,  I  hear 
that  the  reality  of  their  existence  has  been  more  gravely 
questioned  of  late  than  ever ;  and  that  there  are  scores 
of  people  who  stoutly  contend  that  there  are  no  such 
people  as  the  Parapets  at  all.  To  which  I  have  only  hum 
bly  to  oppose  my  personal  veracity,  and  to  trust  that  the 
evidence  contained  in  these  pages  will  be  received  with 
that  dispassionate  consideration  which  it  certainly  de 
serves. 

The  fact  that  Edith  Parapet  married  a  real  baron,  in  Florence, 
two  years  after  the  events  related  in  these  pages,  would  have  no 
great  weight  in  America,  since  many  people  there  disbelieve  in 
the  existence  of  such  a  place  as  Florence  at  all ;  and — notwith 
standing  he  was  a  real  bona  fide  baron,  and  not  somebody's 
valet — I  should  probably  be  flatly  contradicted  if  I  stated  the 
circumstance.  Still,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  put  it  on  record  in 
this  unanswerable  fashion;  for  I  have  always  had  a  kindly  feel 
ing  for  Edith,  and  like  to  think  she  has  prospered  in  the  world, 
and  outlived  her  old  love-cross,  in  spite  of  some  little  defects 
which  are  hereditary,  and  always  will  be  so,  in  the  Parapet 
family. 

The  last  I  heard  of  Messrs.  Ingott  and  Gollop  was,  that  they 
were  trying  to  swindle  the  government  in  a  stupendous  gun- 
contract,  and  judging  from  all  I  know  of  their  antecedents  and 
consequents,  there  is  very  little  doubt,  indeed,  but  that  they  have 
been  successful. 

Virginia's  husband  failed  in  business — they  all  do  in  that  line — 
and  went  out  West,  where  he  repeated  the  same  thing  ad  injini- 
tum.  She  has  not  improved  much,  poor  girl,  either  in  body  or 
mind,  from  her  marriage  of  convenience  ;  who  ever  does1?  The 
game  is  not  worth  the  candle,  but  the  fact  is  only  discovered 
when  it  is  burnt  out.  Mr.  Gaycow  withdrew  the  money  he  put 


474  MARIAN   ROOKE  ;    OR, 

in  the  mortgage  on  old  Chester's  property,  on  the  plea  that  he 
must  collect  all  his  resources,  before  the  time  of  his  failure. 
John  Chester,  however,  came  forward  and  advanced  the  sum  in 
his  place ;  and  he  makes  his  father  pay  the  interest  every  half 
year,  and  punctually  to  the  day. 

Of  the  remainder  of  our  characters  nothing  of  special  moment 
remains  to  be  told.  Generally  speaking  they  move  on  in  their 
old  grooves,  nibbling  or  snapping,  as  Mr.  Gollop  would  say,  at 
their  "baits,"  and  striving  each  in  his  vocation  to  get  the  better 
of  the  world.  Most  of  them  can  be  found  to-day  at  their  old 
trades,  and  any  one  may  identify  them  who  chooses  to  .take  the 
trouble. 

And  Luke — dear,  noble-hearted,  self-sacrificing  Luke  ! — is  he 
to  go  on  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  loveless,  desolate,  and  alone  ? 
In  one  sense,  I  fear,  he  must.  He  has  never  wedded,  for  he  was 
not  one  to  wed  without  loving,  and  for  love,  all  that  he  had  to 
give  in  this  world  of  such  love,  was  poured  out  upon  the  altar  of 
Marian.  He  loves  indeed ;  he  loves  Marian's  chubby  children, 
who  climb  his  knees,  and  would  fight  for  them  as  he  would  for 
their  mother !  But — 

No  more !  For  words  are  all  in  vain  to  convey  what  those 
who  have  known  men  like  Luke  Armstrong  will  feel  without 
them ;  and  those  who  have  not,  have  something  of  human 
nature  yet  to  learn,  which  it  is  not  mine  to  fitly  teach.  But 
Luke  lives,  and  has  lived  a  type  of  that  best  character  in  America 
— the  staunch,  well-to-do,  well-read,  and  conscientious  farmer; 
thoughtful,  patriotic,  and  out-spoken.  He  is,  and  ever  has  been, 
ready  to  serve  a  neighbor  on  a  small  scale,  or  to  serve  his  country 
on  a  great  one ;  and  happy  indeed  has  it  been  for  that  coun 
try  in  this  respect,  and  in  her  time  of  need,  that,  where  she 
has  had  one  man  of  the  pattern  of  Doke,  or  Pangburn, 
or  Gollop,  she  has  had  ten  of  the  pattern  of  Luke  Arm 
strong. 

In  the  terrible  storm  which  lately  ravaged  their  native  land, 
both  Hugh  and  Luke  did  yeoman's  service.  I  am  not  going  to 
say  upon  which  side  they  fought,  for  there  have  been  good  men, 
honestly  persuaded  they  were  in  the  right,  who  have  fought  on 
both  ;  and  I  am  not  one  of  those  who,  when  the  battle  is  over, 
would  strive  to  fan  the  expiring  ashes  of  discord,  even  with  the 
light  words  of  romance.  A  holy  conviction  makes  a  holy  cause ; 
and  the  triumphs  of  brethren  over  brethren  are  best  forgotten, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  teach  a  lesson,  which  is  in  its  nature  in 
delible,  of  the  folly  of  fighting  against  the  laws  of  truth,  of  liberty, 
of  God  !  All  else  may  well  be  forgotten,  as  Hugh  and  Luke  now 


THE  QUEST  FOR  FOUTUXE.  475 

forget  it  in  the  joy  wherewith  the  Angel  of  Peace  is  welcomed  ; 
while  the  Demon  of  War  is  fading  away  into  the  grisly  Past,  and 
the  nations  are  looking  in  hope  toward  the  bright  promise  of  the 
Future. 


T11E  END. 


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"Itis  a  story  of  surpassing  excellence — its  scene  laid  In  the  sunny  South,  about  half  a 
century  ago  ;  its  characters  limned  with  a  master's  hand  ;  its  sketches  graphic  and  thril 
ling,  and  its  conclusion  very  effective.  Such  a  work  is  beyond  criticism,  and  needs  no 
praise." — Troy  American. 

**  In  all  the  characteristics  of  a  powerful  novel  it  will  compare  favorably  with  the  best 
productions  of  a  season  that  has  produced  some  of  the  most  successful  books  that  have 
appeared  for  a  long  time." — Courier  and  Enquirer. 

"  '  Nemesis '  is,  by  far,  the  best  American  novel  published  for  very  many  years.— Phil. 
acUlphia  Press. 

44  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  former  works  of  this  authoress  have  been  republished 
in  England,  France,  and  Germany — indeed,  no  other  American  female  writer  has  the 
honor  of  a  republication  in  the  Leipzig  issues  of  Alphonse  Durr,  whicfc  embraces  Bryant, 
Longfellow,  Hawthorne,  and  Prescott"—  X.  Y.  Home  Journal. 

"  Marion  Harland,  by  intrinsic  power  of  character,  drawing  and  descriptive  facility, 
holds  the  public  with  increasing  fascination."— Washington  StaUeman* 


JBooks  Published  by  Sheldon  <6  Co. 


LIFE  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

By  EDWARD  EVERETT,  LL.D 
1  vol.,  12mo.     348  pages. 

With  a  steel-plate  likeness  of  Mr.  Everett,  from  the  celebrated  bust  by 
Hiram  Powers. 

Price,  in  cloth,  $1  50. 

"The  last  link  of  that  golden  chain  which  shall  hereafter,  for  many  generations,  bind 
together  the  names  of  George  Washington  and  Edward  Everett,  has  just  been  fitted  inte 
Its  place.  The  unselfish  labors  of  the  scholar  and  statesman,  of  whom  we  are  all  proud, 
and  whose  successful  dovotion  to  the  purchase  of  Mount  Vernon  has  challenged  the  ad 
miration  of  the  world,  are  brought  to  a  fitting  conclusion  in  the  cornpend  of  Washing 
ton's  Life.  The  biography  is  c.  model  of  condensation,  and,  by  its  rapid  narrative  and 
attractive  style,  must  commend  itself  to  the  mass  of  readers,  as  the  standard  popular 
Life  of  Washington."  —  Correspondence  of  the  Boston  Post. 

"  It  is  a  nobler  office  to  inspire  one's  countrymen  with  patriotic  sentiments,  with 
warm  love  and  reverence  for  their  institutions,  than  it  is  to  take  a  conspicuous  part  in 
the  movements  of  the  governmental  machine.  Mr.  Everett  is  rendering  a  signal  and 
needed  service  in  recalling  attention  to  Washington,  and  teaching  us  to  appreciate  the 
reasons  why  he  has  been  adjudged  the  greatest  public  character  that  has  appeared  it 
human  history.  * 

Mr.  Everett  is  unrivaled  by  any  man  of  his  time  in  the  ability  to  give  eloquent  expres 
sion  to  the  sentiment  of  patriotism."  —  From  an  able  editorial  in  the  World. 


"  Mr.  Everett's  name  is  destined  to  be  indissolubly  connected  with  that  of  Washington 

of  the  pater  patriot  —  not  only,  even, 


—  not  only  by  his  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  tomb 


by  the  just  and  eloquent  tributes  he  has  paid,  in  words,  to  the  name  and  fame  of  the  sage 
of  Mount  Vernon.  Even  in  England,  and  among  the  scholars  and  historians  and  states 
men  of  the  mother  country,  Edward  Everett  has  come  to  be  considered  the  fittest 
chronicler  of  Washington's  history,  and  the  fittest  annalist  of  his  character."  —  N.  Y. 
Express. 

"That  it  will  be  one  of  the  most  elegant,  faithful,  and  charming  productions  of  the 
day  may  readily  be  conceived.  Probably  no  person  in  the  country  has  studied  the 
'  Father  of  his  Country'  more  closely  than  the  distinguished  orator  of  Massachusetts. 
It  will  unquestionably  be  in  great  demand."  —  Boston  Atlas. 

"  It  will,  doubtless,  as  it  should,  find  its  way  into  every  household,  as  the  popular  em 
bodiment  of  Washington,  and  be  seen  alike  in  the  costly  library,  surrounded  by  thou 
sands  of  other  volumes,  and  on  the  humble  mantel,  where,  in  connection  with  the  Bible 
and  Pilgrim's  Progress,  it  will  form  the  entire  stock  of  family  reading."—  New  York  Ex 
aminer. 

"  It  is  a  duodecimo  elegantly  printed.  It  tells  the  whole  story  without  circum 
locution—  cleaily,  fully,  faithfully,  and  with  the  simple  force  and  fluency  the  theme  re 
quires.  It  has  evidently  been  a  labor  of  love.  Familiar  as  are  the  incidents,  they  read 
delightfully  in  Mr.  Everett's  diction,  and  are  illustrated  anew  by  many  a  fresh  hint  .and 
Idea  gathered  by  bis  long  study  and  great  love  of  the  subject.  The  work  comes  with 
singular  propriety  from  his  felicitous  pen,  as  the  orator  whose  eloquence  has  done  so 
much  to  rescue  Washington's  domain,  hone,  and  sepulchre  from  desecration,  and  con 
secrate  them  to  the  nation.  An  excellent  engraved  portra''  t  of  the  author,  from  Power'* 
bust,  and  fresh  material  in  the  appendix,  enhance  the  interest  and  value  of  this  chaiming 
national  souvenir.  "—  Henry  T.  Tuckerman,  the  distinguished  Essayist. 


Bootes  Published  by  Sheldon  <&  Co. 


MARY    BUNYAN, 

THE  DREAMER'S  BLIND  DAUGHTER. 

&  Tale  of  religious  persecution.    By  MBS.  S.  ROCHESTER  FORD,  of  Louisnlle. 
1  vol.,  12mo.,  488  pages,  Illustrated.    Price  $1  25. 

From  tht  New  York  Examiner. 

"  The  numerous  readers  of '  Grace  Trnman'  have  here  another  work  on  a  topic  of  deep 
ant!  thrilling  interest,  from  the  author  of  that  highly  popular  book.  Mary  Bunyan,  the 
blind  daughter  of  the  immortal  dreamer,  is  referred  to  repeatedly  in  his  autobiography 
and  other  works.  She  was  about  twelve  years  of  age  when  Bunyan  was  imprisoned  in 
Bedford  Jail,  and  his  anxiety  on  her  behalf  was  one  of  his  principal  causes  of  distress 
In  his  long  imprisonment. 

M  As  drawn  by  Mrs.  Ford,  her  character  seems  to  have  been  one  of  great  modesty  and 
loveliness,  and  the  story  of  her  love  for  William  Dormer,  and  of  his  death  for  the  cause 
of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  has  much  of  the  pathetic  element  in  it.  Mrs.  Ford  is  evi 
dently  thoroushly  aufait  in  the  incidents  of  Bunyan's  family  history,  and  in  the  topog> 
raphy  of  Bedford  and  Elstow.  "We  can  safely  predict  for  the  work  an  extensive  sals." 


From  ftw  Few  York  Evangelist* 

44  The  simple  Incidents  of  Bunyan's  life,  his  protracted  imprisonment,  his  heroic  endur 
fcnce  and  lofty  faith,  are  of  themselves  full  of  the  deepest  and  most  thrilling  interest  It 
needed  only  the  picture  of  his  blind  daughter  Mary,  in  her  gentleness  and  patience  under 
sore  misfortune,  to  sive  completeness  to  the  trasic  yet  noble  scenes  in  which  Bunyaa 
fleures,  so  modestly  yet  grandly  conspicuous.  'The  author  of  the  volume  before  us  has 
carefully  gathered  up  such  historical  facts — and  they  are  fortunately  numerous  and  well 
authenticated — as  could  throw  light  upon  her  subject,  and  has  employed  them  with  great 
ifcgacity  and  effect  in  the  construction  of  her  story." 


From  th«  American  Baptist,  N.  Y 

"The  announcement  of  a  new  work  from  the  accomplished  authoress  of  '  Grace  Trn 
man,  will  send  a  thrill  of  delight  through  thousands  of  hearts.  This  book  will  be  read 
with  an  enthusiasm  rarely  equaled.  Think  of  the  subject,  the  persecution  of  John  Bun 
yan,  his  family  and  the  times.  Who  does  not  know  him  ?  Who  does  not  want  to  hear 
him  as  he  pleads  his  cause  before  unjust  judges,  and  members  of  churches?  his  wife,  as 
she  seeks  his  release  from  the  gloomy  prison  cell  ?  his  poor  blind  daughter,  as  she  tries 
to  help  her  weeping  mother  bear  the  burden  of  her  bereavement  ?  It  is  by  no  means 
untimely  at  this  day,  when  so  many  shrink  from  suffering  for  truth  and  liberty  of  speech. 
There  will  be  many  a  moistened  eye  over  the  be&utifui  pages  of  touching  scenes  in  tL« 
history  of  one  whom  all  know  only  to  love.  Before  It  was  out  of  the  press  live  thou.- 
*and  copies  had  been  ordered,  and  we  doubt  not  it  will  have  an  immense  sale.  It  con 
tains  a  few  cuts  illustrative  of  the  scenes." 


From  the  Pittsburg  Chronicle. 

**  This  Is  the  last  product  from  the  pen  of  a  lady  whose  writings  are  rapidly  becoming 
popular.  Her  last  work,  'Grace  Truman,'  had  a  sale  of  over  30,000  copies,  a'nd  this  one 
is  said  to  be  a  better  and  a  more  interesting  book.  It  is  a  very  pleasing  tale  of  fiction, 
the  scene  of  which  is  in  '  Menie  England,'  and  tho  chief  character,  the  immortal  and 
lever-to-be-forgotten  John  Bunyan,  writer  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress." 


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